Vengeance
by ucsbdad
Summary: A military sci fi story featuring our favorite couple. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

**The Transport Hyder Ali **

Sergeant Saava stuck his furry face into Castle's tiny stateroom. "The general wants to see you, sir."

Castle sighed and rose from his bunk. "Any idea what he wants me for?"

Saava shrugged, a habit he'd picked up from his long association with humans. "He didn't tell me, sir."

Both had a very good idea of what the general wanted, but preferred not to mention it.

Castle maneuvered himself out of his stateroom, ducking his head to avoid the pipe he'd hit his head on a dozen times and made it to the cramped passageway. As he went down the passageway, he inhaled the odors of the ship: sweat; urine; machinery oil; fear; desperation and the odd aroma of non-humans.

He arrived at the general's office and went in. Sergeant Handley greeted him with a smile. "The general is expecting you, sir. Go right in."

He walked in, stopped in front of the general's desk and saluted. "Captain Richard Castle reporting as ordered, sir."

General Black Jacques Schram returned the salute and smiled at Castle through his trademark coal black beard. "Relax, Rick. Sit down and have a cup of coffee." He pointed to a self-heating cup sitting by the edge of his desk. Castle sat and drank.

"You've decided not to sign on for the next campaign? The Han Worlds are raising hell on Wend. It's just the place for a hard hitting, fast moving mercenary outfit like ours to kick their asses."

Castle shook his head. "You know my story, sir. They killed my whole family, killed or ran off our human friends and have enslaved the Tarkai. I have to do this and now is as good a time as any."

The Tarkai were long limbed and thick bodied, covered with short fur ranging from black to light grey. They had small noses, small external ears, and large front teeth. Some people said they looked like beavers. Rick, who had never seen that Earth animal, and who had grown up on Tark, thought they looked like Tarkai.

"So you're taking the cream of my scout company, and yourself, to form your own mercenary company with yourself as your employer. There's an old saying about lawyers who have themselves as a client. The same might apply to mercenaries."

"In this case, sir, we're not really mercenaries."

Schram shook his head. "How many people have you recruited?"

"Seventy-six, sir. Twelve humans and the rest are Tarkai."

"I did a little research, Rick. Golden Life Valley holds about thirty thousand humans. That's a lot of people to take on with seventy-six soldiers."

Rick nodded. "The Valley is divided into some four hundred plantations. Each plantation has perhaps ten to twenty armed men on the payroll. These men are not trained soldiers, and they're not as well armed or well equipped, or as well trained and led as my troops. Plus, each plantation owner sees himself as a little tin god, lording it over his own plantation. They fight each other as it is. The chance that even a portion of the plantation owners will be able to cooperate to any meaningful degree is minimal."

"And there's one more thing, sir. The plantation owners have been raiding for slaves to work the plantations since my family was slaughtered. Given leadership and weapons the tribes will fight. I've already purchased one hundred and eighty Model 71 carbines to arm them."

Schram smiled. "So, two hundred and fifty or so to take on a planet?"

"The enemy advances, we retreat. The enemy stops, we harass. The enemy retreats, we attack. It's worked before, sir."

"You've thought this out, Rick?"

"Yes, sir. I've made contact with a tramp freighter captain that calls at Tark. She lands away from the spaceport and trades with the tribes for Golden Life leaves. The tribes can't process the leaves as the plantation owners can, so a hundred pounds of leaves only yields about two pounds of refined product. She sells them weapons and ammo in return. Not many weapons or much ammo, but some. If we can stop the plantation owners from raiding for slaves and to steal Golden Life leaves from the tribes, and if we can raid the plantations to get the refined product, I can raise one hell of an army."

"You'll get there on this tramp ship?"

"Yes, sir. It' an old L 21 transport, but in good condition. I'm going to send a small force first. A six-man recon team, three four-man armed propaganda teams to prepare the tribes, and a small headquarters unit: A commander; an RTO; a medic; and an intel specialist. All Tarkai, of course."

"What'll do when you win?"

Castle laughed. "It looks like my enthusiasm is contagious, sir. But I haven't really thought that far ahead. The tribes will be strong enough to stand on their own then, and I really can't see myself as some sort of farmer. I imagine I'll look for some unit that needs a good Tarkai speaking recon officer."

Schram grabbed a sheaf of papers from his desk and looked at them. "Half the people in this brigade are refugees from someplace or another. And I can always use a good Tarkai speaking recon officer. How many officers do you have in your unit?"

"Aside from me, five, sir. Lieutenants Baratt and Popho, and Sub-Lieutenants Tarza, Maccik and Corroon. And there's Warrant Officer O'Neal, the medic, sir."

"I'm going to put you and your officers all on half pay. That way you won't all starve to death before you ever get this off the ground. You know what they say, if you want God to laugh, tell him your plans."

Castle took the contract with his name on it and signed it at once, then handed it back. "Thank you so very much, sir. I'll have the others sign their half pay contracts and return them to headquarters. Thank you again, sir."

"There are a lot of mercenary units that use Tarkai as scouts, Rick, since their senses are so damned good. I'll put the word out, maybe you'll get some more volunteers."

When Rick walked back to his quarters, the ship, although still jammed with people, didn't smell so bad.

**Transit **

Captain Rick Castle walked from the warmth of his headquarters tent and into the freezing wind of the planet Transit. The planet was in the middle of a millennia long ice age. Almost the entire planet was covered with glaciers that were miles thick. There were a few exceptions, such as the thousand or so square miles of land he was on now. He remembered the common complaint about the place: Transit has no gravity, the whole planet sucks.

What Transit lacked in amenities, it made up for with location. Seven major trade routes in the Europa Cluster ran right past Transit with a dozen more coming near to it. Major spacelines made Transit a major transshipment point. Soon, spacedocks orbited the planet, along with habitats for all manner of employees. First class hotels orbited the planet so that travelers could wait for their next ship in luxury, eating the finest food and quaffing the finest drinks. Orbital office buildings provided local headquarters for all manner of corporations. Decisions affecting millions of people were made in comfortable offices or in expensive restaurants. Crime was not unknown in those orbiting habitats, but it was a genteel sort of crime that affected large corporations or very wealthy individuals.

That was Spaceside Transit Port. Dirtside Transit Port was different. No one with any money or connections would ever want to live there, even temporarily. It was the home of third rate, fly by night spacelines and corporations whose dealings might not stand the light of day. Tramp ship captains made the rounds of businesses, looking for trade that was at least enough to pay for their fuel, even if it might see the ship impounded by officious planetary authorities elsewhere. Rowdy spacefarers from tramp ships came to Dirtside to spend their meager pay abusing substances and often, abusing prostitutes. The spacefarers were, of course, abused in turn. The food was usually rather basic, the booze cheap, the hookers cheaper and life could be the cheapest of all.

Dirtside also brought mercenaries. It was a good place to catch an overcrowded transport to some world in need of hired troops to fend off an aggressive neighbor, or invade a defenseless neighbor. Arms merchants, brokers and fixers of all kinds abounded. None of this attracted the attention of the authorities orbiting high above.

Castle walked down the company street, checking things out as he went. General Schram must have put the word out, for now he had a company one hundred and twenty-three strong, not counting the twenty five man party now on Tark.

He returned the salute of the guard at the end of the company street and walked to the jitney only a few yards away. As usual, the heat was focused on the driver, making the inside of the jitney as cold as the outside, but out of the wind.

His first stop was at the Transit Dirtside spaceport. It was by no means as grand as the one orbiting overhead, but it was warm and out of the wind. He pushed back his hood, took off his gloves and unzipped his heavy jacket. His face was warming up already.

He went first to the communications desk. The only way to communicate across interstellar distances was to put your message on a ship. He asked for both personal mail and for any mail addressed to his unit. There was none. However, he hadn't really expected any.

Next, he walked over to the incoming and outgoing shipping board, just out of curiosity. He vaguely recognized some of the ship's names, but nothing more.

He went to a public news kiosk and spent fifteen minutes scanning news stories. He identified three that interested him, but didn't down load any of them. He could do that later.

Walking out, he smelled the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Although it was enticing, he could get that later as well.

Exiting the spaceport, he was accosted by two beggars. Both had their hoods down over their heads and were staring at his feet.

"Can you spare a few coins for two fellow humans, sir?" One asked.

The voice was definitely female as was the hand held out for coins. He thought the other one was probably female, or perhaps a young boy. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins and dropped them into the woman's hand.

"Thank you, sir." She said and the two hurried off.

Beggars were uncommon on Transit, but hardly unheard of. For every elite mercenary unit that was based there, there were several mercenary units that were good for nothing more that extorting taxes from impoverished peasants on behalf of some warlord on some nearly forgotten agricultural colony. When their tours were up, they we're sent back to Transit. There they blew their pay and when that ran out, they usually sold any weapons or equipment they still had. When that ran out, they'd reenlist with another band of thugs, or turn to a life of crime on Transit, or they might beg. Nothing about the woman, or her companion, suggested she was a soldier. He shrugged. Just another mystery in a universe full of them.

The jitney next took him to Jules', a small-time weapons dealer.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

As soon as he opened the door, Jules' round, pale face lit up with a smile. "Captain Castle. Do come in. I was just making coffee. Please sit down."

Castle sat while Jules fiddled with the coffeemaker on the low table between them.

Jules was small and slender with an epicanthic eye fold and black hair. Nothing in Jules' accent gave Castle any clue as to where he was from. That was the sort of question you didn't ask on Transit.

The coffee was excellent, as always, and Jules and Castle exchanged pleasantries and general gossip before getting down to business.

"Captain Castle, I think I have something you'll really like." Jules passed his hand over a section of the table. A dolly rolled out and on that dolly was a recoilless rifle. Jules enthused over it. "It's a 76 millimeter recoilless rifle, made by United Arsenals in the United Kingdoms. It has a day/night sight, a laser range finder and guidance system and a full selection of repair tools, _and_ a small satchel of the most commonly needed spare parts. I also have thirty rounds of ammunition. Only five are laser guided, however. All of this for only two hundred UK pounds."

If a solider of two centuries past were to be resurrected, he would have easily understood the weapons of Castle's day. When the Triple Alliance took over Earth and its near colonies, the so-called Core, two centuries in the past, the first thing they did was to forbid any further weapons research. They didn't want any other nations finding a way to make themselves powerful enough to threaten the Alliance. Unsaid was the fact that the members of the Alliance didn't trust their partners as well.

Castle examined the gun. It was new. He could still smell the cosmoline preservative on it. A brand new recoilless rifle was almost certainly stolen. It was unlikely that the customer who had been shorted one weapon would search the stars for the lost weapon, but it might be a problem. Of course, Castle couldn't insult Jules by saying he thought the weapon was stolen, but he could hint at it.

"It's beautiful, Jules. I really think it's brand new. But, it's too expensive for me. But I could go to one hundred and fifty pounds."

Jules assumed a look of injured innocence, but did not dismiss the offer out of hand. "One hundred and fifty pounds is too low. I'd lose money on the deal."

Castle could really use the recoilless rifle. He had sufficient machine guns, a pair of light mortars, but a heavier direct fire weapon would be a huge help.

They began to bargain.

A half an hour later, Castle bought the weapon for one hundred and eighty pounds. Both men were happy with the deal.

As Castle rose to leave, Jules spoke. "There is a rumor about you going around Transit, Captain."

Castle shrugged. "Transit has always been full of rumors."

"They say that you are Richard Rodgers and that your family was slaughtered years ago on Tark by a man who wished to take your family's place on that world. They also say you have recruited a company of Tarkai to avenge your loss and those of the Tarkai."

"Obviously some parts of that are true." He replied, without stating which parts were true.

Jules scratched the faded scar that ran from just in front of his ear down to his chin. "I'm from Yamato. When the revolution came, the revolutionaries thought me too devoted to the old emperor and not sufficiently revolutionary. They took my business and my house and all that they could find that I had. They put me, my wife, my two daughters and my son on an old ship going to Transit. Many died on the ship from lack of food, lack of medical care, even lack of air. I and my family survived. I had managed to acquire some Bindidi heat gems and hid them on my person." He smiled. "I was very careful of how I sat on that ship. But, I arrived here and found the original Jules wished to retire. I bought him out and, since it was easier to change my name than buy a new sign, I became Jules." He nodded to himself. "Vengeance will eat at a man. I provide some money and weapons to the counter-revolutionaries back on Yamato. It does little good. Their secret police are very good." Jules stopped and appeared to have no more to say.

Castle headed for the door.

"I have two cases of Model 71 carbines that I have been unable to sell. They are obsolete and not wanted by first class mercenary units. I could let you have all twenty carbines for fifty pounds."

That stopped Castle at once. Twenty Model 71s would be worth at least a hundred pounds in any condition at all. "May I see them?"

"This way."

Jules led him back into his store past racks of weapons, body armor, comm gear, ammunition and unknown items covered by tarps. He examined the weapons. They were in excellent condition. "You can't sell these?"

Jules nodded. "No one wants such old weapons."

Castle knew that was a lie. He nodded. "Fifty pounds?"

They agreed and Castle had twenty more weapons.

As he left, he was again accosted by the two beggars. "Can you spare a few coins for two fellow humans, sir?" The woman asked. Again, both hoods were over their heads and they stared at their feet. Again, Castle pulled a few coins from his pocket and handed them to the woman.

"Thank you, sir." She said and they hurried off.

Castle rode the jitney a few blocks to the All Arms Emporium, the biggest arms dealer on Transit. They catered to mercenary commanders who were looking to buy a battery of artillery or perhaps a platoon of top of the line tanks. Occasionally they had odd lots of weapons suitable for a much poorer mercenary commander.

Castle was met by a scantily clad young lady who he had found was surprisingly knowledgeable about weapons. She recognized him and her smile faded. "We don't have anything in your price range today, I'm afraid, Captain Castle." Visions of a fat commission were disappearing from her mind.

"That's okay, Jacinda. I'll just browse."

She walked away. He admired the view.

He browsed for a half an hour and found no low priced treasures hidden away. He left. Once outside he was again accosted by the two beggars.

"Can you spare a few coins for a couple of fellow humans, sir?" The woman asked, again looking at her feet, as did her companion.

"Isn't there someone else on this planet you can ask for spare change from?" Castle asked.

For the first time, the woman looked at him. In spite of the stress and worry that was apparent on her face, she was gorgeous: Long, curly brunette hair, warm hazel eyes, killer cheekbones and a shy, tentative smile.

"I'm sorry, sir. Have we…" She stopped, her face beginning to redden.

"You stopped me outside of the spaceport, outside of Jules' and now here."

"I'm sorry, sir. I've never…I've never done anything like this. I was too ashamed to look at you, or to let you see my face. I'm sorry. We won't bother you again."

"The hell we won't." Said the other one. She was a woman, younger than her companion. She had a pale face, light blue eyes and the reddest hair he'd ever seen. She put her arms around his right arm. "How about it, general? A couple of hours rolling around with me looks like just what you need. I'm the daughter of a very high end Earth courtesan. We can…"

The brunette grabbed her arms and pulled. The redhead kept her grip on Castle. "Alexis, we aren't going to do anything like that!"

"_We_ aren't. I am. I'm sick of eating slop and sleeping in a cardboard shack. Don't worry. I'll share with you, Kate."

The brunette, Kate, kept pulling on the redhead's arm. The redhead, Alexis, kept a death grip on Castle, as the two fought.

"Where would you eat if I gave you more money?" Castle yelled.

They both stopped and looked at him. "Zoppi's." Said the redhead.

"Zoppi's?" Castle said. He was beginning to be curious about these two. He knew he should probably give them some money and send them on their way, but his curiosity was growing. "You'd likely die of food poisoning at Zoppi's. Why don't I take you both to breakfast at someplace better?"

"I accept." Alexis cried.

"We ate breakfast at Zoppi's." Kate snapped.

"We ate breakfast there two days ago." Alexis retorted.

"Where and what do we have to do for it?" Kate asked, suspiciously.

"We'll eat at the Commander's Club. In return, you'll tell me your stories."

Castle and Alexis began walking up the street with Kate following unwillingly, but unwilling to let go of Alexis.

The Commander's Club was the finest place to eat and drink on Dirtside Transit. Some said it was better than many of the more prestigious places in orbit. It was modeled on the old-fashioned English gentlemen's clubs on Earth. It not only featured a bar and restaurant, but comfortable rooms upstairs for their members. As a very conservative establishment they very much frowned on anyone bringing female companionship to the rooms. They also had several briefing rooms, one large enough for a brigade commander to brief his subordinate commanders and staff. There was a library with books and the most recent periodicals for their members. They also had game rooms with billiards, darts, quoits and other English games. In the back was a reading room where silence was strictly observed.

Like the English gentlemen's clubs, membership was not open to just anyone. A member had to command a mercenary unit and be proposed by three members. Castle had been surprised when he arrived on Transit to find that he'd been proposed for membership by General Schram, General Armstrong of the Eridani Light Horse, and Colonel Hans von Tarlenheim, the commander of _Kampfgruppe _von Tarlenheim. As far as Castle knew, almost all of the members commanded battalions or larger units. The only other member he knew who commanded only a company was a Captain Vishinsky who commanded a secretive Russian speaking company known as Spetznaz Vostok, or Special Purpose Force East.

They were greeted at the door by George, the manager. If George was not by birth the perfect English gentleman's gentleman, then he had worked at it for many years and was perfect at it.

"Captain Castle, how good to see you again. Welcome back."

Castle had at first thought that George's enthusiasm was false, but he eventually decided that George was one of those rare people who truly loved his job and looked forward to it every day.

"Would you care to check your heavy coats?" George asked. "It is a bit warmer in here than outside."

Castle took off his heavy coat and went to Angela, a seeming ageless human. He handed it to her as well as his sidearm. Weapons were frowned upon here.

He saw the two women leave their lighter coats, but Angela stopped them. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave your weapons with me as well, ladies."

Castle was surprised to see that both women had heavy military issue pistols at their belts. Kate glared, but handed hers over. Alexis did so with a smile.

"The one in your ankle holster as well, miss."

"I forgot it was there." Kate lied smoothly as she handed the weapon over.

Castle's curiosity was going off the charts.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

They walked towards the restaurant on marble floors, covered with expensive hand-crafted rugs, surrounded by dark wood paneling set off by highly polished brass fixtures. They arrived at a table set with a gleaming white tablecloth, sparkling glassware and glowing silverware.

Their waiter, Hippolyte, waited upon them with a perfect tuxedo over his large grey-skinned body. His trunk-like nose swung back and forth as he looked at each of his customers. "Would you like to start with some coffee?"

Kate brightened up. "Can I have a grande skim latte with two pumps of sugar free vanilla?"

"Certainly, Madame." Hippolyte said with old world dignity. "And you, Miss?"

"I'll have the same." Alexis said.

"Sir?"

"Just black coffee for me, Hippolyte."

"Very good, sir. I hope the Zambesi blend will be acceptable?"

"Perfectly so."

The two women pored over the menus. Then Kate spoke. "What can we order?"

"Anything you want. Two of anything you want, but you'll have to eat it all here. The Club doesn't approve of take out food. They think it gives the Club a bad name."

"What's an ice crusher?"

"You're looking at the ice crusher's breakfast special?"

Kate nodded.

"There a large fusion plant on the outskirts of town. They use the waste heat to melt down the glaciers. In the short term it gives us water, and it can be broken down into oxygen and hydrogen. Lot of vehicles run on hydrogen here. In the long run, it'll give us more ice-free land. But, to answer your question, the ice crushers are the ones who melt the ice. It's hard and demanding work. We don't want a flood coming through Dirtside Transit. The ice crusher's special breakfast is the biggest they have. It's a traditional Dirtside breakfast, suitable for men doing hard and demanding work."

Both women ordered the ice crusher's special while Castle ordered his traditional English breakfast. Castle watched as the two women shoveled their food into their mouths. He could believe they hadn't eaten in two days. About halfway through, Kate must have realized that Castle was watching her. She slowed down and glared at Alexis. Alexis apparently got the idea and ate more slowly. When their breakfasts were eaten, Castle suggested more coffee.

Kate savored another sip of coffee, then spoke. "Why are you interested in our stories?"

"I've spent all of my military career in scout, recon or tactical intelligence units. A strong sense of curiosity is an asset and I have one. You need to wonder why an enemy's radio traffic patterns have changed slightly. You wonder why the enemy is sending fewer patrols out, or why your patrols are getting so deep into enemy territory. In your cases, I'm curious because your accents say you're from Earth. Not many of you this far out. And you're educated, an oddity on Transit Dirtside. And I find that my two beggars are armed. That makes me very curious."

"It's unlikely you'll gain any valuable military knowledge from us."

Castle shrugged. "I once spent a night drinking with a Zoroastrian poet. I wanted to learn about his planet. All I learned was about Zoroastrian poetry. But, two years later I was able to get valuable intel from a Zoroastrian because I knew of their poetry. He trusted me. Maybe I'll never use what you tell me, but I'm still curious."

Kate reached into her pocket and brought out a small leather wallet. She passed it across to Castle who opened it.

He whistled. "Captain Katherine H. Beckett, United States Constabulary. You should not be begging, Captain, unless you're undercover."

"I'm not a captain anymore, but the ID can be useful."

"Useful how?" Castle asked.

"It's my story, can you let me tell it my way?"

"Please go ahead."

She took another sip of coffee and began. "My parents were lawyers and they wanted me to be one as well. But, I sort of rebelled and accepted a commission in the Constabulary when I graduated from college. I was good and rose fairly rapidly. I was in charge of the Close Protection Unit for Senator Mike Daley of California. How much do you know about Earth's politics?"

Castle thought for a moment. "Not much. I know the Triple Alliance began to unravel some years back and it's been unraveling faster and faster. Nationalists from the US, Russian and China all feel that their country should be top dog, not just in the Core, but throughout known space. They're trying to break up the Alliance."

"A good enough analysis." Kate said. "Senator Daley was a passionate supporter of the Alliance. He was sure that if the Alliance broke up, there would be war, nuclear war, not just on Earth or in the Core, but everywhere. His main enemy in the Senate was Senator William Bracken, of New York."

Kate stopped and took another sip of coffee. "Politics is sometimes described as a blood sport. It got to be that way on Earth. Mobs of supporters of either side would attack each other, riot at each other's political meetings, and generally raise hell. Some people died on both sides and that raised the temperature. We got intel that Bracken intended to assassinate Senator Daley. We increased our security, but we couldn't believe a US Senator would have one of his colleagues murdered. We were wrong. Very wrong. A team of heavily armed assassins shot their way into Daley's office and killed him. We managed to catch them as they tried to escape. There was one idiot just standing there, just enjoying the show, so I lit him up with my assault rifle. He turned out to be a nephew of Bracken's who thought a political assassination would look good on his resume or something. He was too stupid to realize he could get killed."

"Oops." Castle said.

Kate went on. "Bracken already had a cover story ready. He had "evidence" that Daley had been murdered by Russian and Chinese paid terrorists. It was a simple matter for him to add the name of a "traitor" to his story. Captain Kate Beckett had been the inside woman who had let the terrorists get to Daley. There was a warrant out for my arrest almost at once."

"You were lucky to get away." Castle said.

"It was more than luck. My commander, Colonel Montgomery, got me some money, a number of phony passports and a ticket on a ship going out of Sol system. He told me to run and keep running. So, I have." She grimaced. "He should have run, too. He was executed." She took another sip of coffee. "And here I am, begging on the streets of Transit and keeping an eye out for assassins."

Castle turned to Alexis. "And your story?"

"My name is Alexis Harper, and Senator Daley was my father. When he was just beginning his political career, he married a woman named Kyra Blaine, the niece of Senator James G. Blaine of Texas. The marriage was strictly political. It served to unite two political families. The two had a great deal of passion for pro-Alliance politics, but no passion for each other. Daley had four children by his wife and six more by other women, obviously including my mother, Meredith. While Dad didn't exactly flaunt his relationship with his other children, he made sure we were well taken care of, educated and protected. I even got an internship with his office while I was in high school which became a part time job while I was in college." She sighed and looked sad. "I would have graduated three months after he was killed."

"Do you know how to use the weapon you have, or are you just carrying it for show?" Castle asked.

She smiled. "Oh, I know how to use it, all right. And I can use a lot of other weapons. I was a lot closer to the street than some of the ivory tower political types around Dad. I saw the violence out there and it frightened me. I talked a Constabulary trooper into teaching me how to shoot. When the assassins came, I fought back. I got one, too. When Kate had to flee, I went with her. I had some money stashed away and I knew a guy who could get me good, false papers. And here I am, with Kate."

"Now what about your story, Captain Castle?" Kate asked.

"Have you ever heard of the planet Tark?"

Both women shook their heads.

"How about Ardizir?"

Kate nodded. "It's an extra-solar planet. It's one of the few places that are on a technological par with humans."

"More than that. They developed faster than light travel a couple of centuries before we did, but the Ardizir'ho don't seem to have the human drive to go out and find new homes on new planets. They've set up research stations on planets they've found interesting, but never any colonies. When the two races ran into each other, there was a lot of exchange of information. One of the things the Ardizir'ho found out about was a plant that grew on Tark. It's a cure for some sort of degenerative nerve disease that plagues them. They call it Golden Life because the plant has golden leaves and it's life giving to them. The extract of the plant could have been manufactured in chemical plants on Earth, but the Ardizir'ho are great bioengineers. They tried to grow the plant on Ardizir, but failed. They modified the plant to grow there, but it was nowhere near as effective. For a lot of reasons I don't understand, the Ardizir'ho refuse to use any medications made by "dead" machines. Their only option was to ask the nice humans to grow the stuff and then buy it from us."

"How did that effect you, a soldier?" Kate asked.

"My dad was asked by the Geiser Corporation of New Hanover to run the plantations on Tark. Make agreements with the local Tarkai tribes, set up the plantations, recruit humans to run them. Actually, they were set up on a franchise basis, and of course, recruit Tarkai labor. I guess I was never meant to be some kind of glorified farmer, though."

_That_, Castle thought, _was true as far as it went, but was far from being the whole truth._

"You became a soldier?" Alexis asked.

"I got a scholarship to a two-year military college in the United Kingdoms, Lothian Military College. From there I got a commission in a mercenary unit, Black Jacques Schram's Brigade. But now I have my own small mercenary unit."

"Black Jacques Schram's Brigade? One of the so-called mercenary units out of the United Kingdoms?" Kate said.

Castle raised an eyebrow. "I can assure you that Black Jacques Schram's brigade is a mercenary unit. We always insisted on getting paid."

Kate just smiled. "So, it's just a coincidence that somehow Schram's brigade and a dozen or so other mercenary units ranging from battalion to brigade in size always seem to end up fighting for governments or causes favored by the United Kingdoms and they always seem to be opposed by the Han Worlds?"

Castle shrugged and smiled back. "That's understandable. The Han Worlds don't use mercenaries, ever. They send "volunteers" if they need to support one of their friends."

"Captain, I may not know an awful lot about extra-solar affairs, or about the Europa Cluster in particular…."

"Then may I educate you, Captain Beckett?"

Kate bowed slightly. "Certainly, but I'm not a captain anymore."

**Author's note: Hamlet 77 asked me if I'd been getting notice of my PMs as he wasn't getting any notice from FF. I checked my PMs and found I had PMs going back to December 2019 that I hadn't gotten any notice of. I tried to make at least one reply to everyone who PM'd me, but if you PM'd me and never heard back from me, I apologize. I won't depend on FF to notify me any more, I'll check them myself. Anyone else have that problem?**

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

"Noted. But now to the Europa Cluster. When the Americans, the Chinese and the Russians decided to band together to run Earth and its nearer colonies two centuries ago, many people were very unhappy. Among them was the old United Kingdom of Earth. They were so angry that they decided to set up a colony as far from Earth as they could manage. They found such a place 482 light years from Earth. In those days, that was a year's journey. The system had three habitable planets and one habitable moon. The planets were named Ireland, England, Scotland and the moon was called Wales. The Welsh joke that they chose the moon so they wouldn't have to be next door to the English."

"in the first twenty years, approximately fifteen million people immigrated to the United Kingdoms. Not just Brits, but Irish, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and even Americans who didn't like what their government was doing. Small numbers of other nationalities went as well. They were a wealthy colony, having brought their industries with them. They also had an army and a space navy. Oh, they called them police units, but it didn't take long for the Triple Alliance to get tired of sending ships out to check on them and be gone for two years. Then they began building a real military."

"The UK also had small transport vessels which they sent out to explore their new neighborhood. They contacted a number of non-human races, including the Tarkai, and traded with them."

"Over the last two centuries, other groups decided to leave that part of space run by the Triple-Alliance and set out on their own. A lot of those from Europe settled on planets near to the UK, hence the name the Europa Cluster. The UK was wealthy and was happy to help out the smaller, poorer colonies in their area."

"About seventy-five years ago a group of Chinese settled what is called the Han Worlds, three solar systems hosting a habitable planet each, less than a half a light year from each other and on the edge of the Europa Cluster. These people were passionate Chinese nationalists. They felt China should run the entire human dominated sphere. They get money, weapons, intelligence, instructors and colonists from China itself. And they support any group in the Europa Cluster that will accept their help. This brings them into conflict with the UK and most of the rest of the cluster who want nothing to do with being run from Earth, no matter what country or countries are doing the running."

"Which is why the UK has its very own tame mercenaries to fight the Han Worlds." Kate concluded for Rick.

"Do you have any actual proof of that?" Castle shot back.

"Proof? No, but I do know of some suspicious things about those units. Most mercenaries have to start discharging their lower ranking troops when they don't have a contract and therefore no money coming in. They'll try to keep a core of senior officers, NCOs and specialists until they do get another job. But some so-called mercenary units somehow always manage to keep their units up to strength, even when there's no contract to pay them. And, these units seem to get the latest weapons from UK defense contractors, sometimes even before the regular UK troops do. Oh, and regular UK officers and NCOs can join these so-called mercenary units and then return to UK service. They get disability and retirement benefits at the same rate is regular troops. Is this all just a coincidence?"

"Pretty much so. The dozen or so mercenary units you mention are both wealthy and in demand. They can afford to keep their entire units together until they get another contract because another contract won't be long in coming. As far as getting the latest weapons, well, I did say they are wealthy. Plus the UK is going to want to do some actual combat testing of anything new before issuing it to their own troops. You don't want to get your own UK troops killed if you can get your weapon tested by someone else."

"As far as UK officers and NCOs serving in mercenary units, why not? It gives them combat experience they might not otherwise get."

"If you're competing with the UK military for troops, you'd damn well better pay as well as they do."

Kate wasn't convinced, but she nodded. "I'll have to take your word for it. But tell me, Captain Castle, does your unit have the latest UK weapons, or pay at UK military rates?"

"No, my unit has taken a job on spec. We don't get paid unless we win and not until then. A lot of small mercenary units have to start that way." Again, that was true, but not the whole truth.

Castle changed the subject. "Are you really as well trained as you say you are?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I can always use good people. Most of my unit are Tarkai, but I can think of some scenarios where a couple of human females could come in handy."

"What would you expect us to do?" Kate asked coldly, suspecting the worst.

"I expect you to kill people. People who may not have committed any crime at all. People who may be fine people but for the fact they're on the other side. I expect you to kill them in any way you can. Shoot them in the back. Shoot them while they're sleeping. Toss a grenade into a house where civilians may be living. In return, I can feed you, clothe you, arm you, give you a place to sleep, provide medical care and, if we're lucky, maybe I can pay you at the end of the mission."

Kate looked at Alexis who was smiling and nodding. Kate felt she had very little choice. "We'll do it."

"Okay, but I want to run you through the combat course here in town to make sure you can shoot."

Castle had George call them a cab and they headed for the combat course on the outskirts of town, almost to the foot of a glacier. The combat courses that Castle had used in his training days, and later with Black Jacques had been wonderful things. They were controlled by computers and had lifelike dummies that could maneuver and "fire" at you with the computers keeping score on whether you "killed" your enemy, or if he "killed" you. Some were large enough to accommodate a platoon of soldiers.

The combat course at Transit Dirtside was different. One elderly computer that you could almost hear wheezing ran the complex with the help of a dozen bored humans. Only one person at a time went through the course. He, or she, as was the case, followed a white line on the dirt and fired at paper cutouts of enemies that popped up from old drums or from around walls made out of cardboard. At the end, a human counted up the number of hits you got on the targets.

Kate went through first, Rick having rented an elderly, but functional, assault rifle from New France. Kate had kept her own sidearm, although she probably wouldn't need it. Rick observed her and saw that she moved quickly, kept to cover as much as she could, shot fast and shot well. He knew his own combat experienced troops would have done better, but she did quite well indeed.

Alexis was next. She moved slowly, did keep under cover, but perhaps a bit too long, and used way too much ammunition. In spite of firing nearly three times as much ammo as Kate did, she hit fewer targets. Under normal circumstances Rick might have passed on her. But he already knew that she and Kate were a team. And, he thought that she could improve with some work.

Alexis approached him. "I know I didn't do all that good, but I can do better. Just give me a chance."

Kate came over to stand by Alexis and glared at Castle. He glared right back. "And giving you a chance will be with a weapon and ammo I'll have to provide. and on a course I'll need to pay for."

Alexis looked disappointed and Kate looked angry.

"You'd damned well get better or you'll be demoted to the cook's helper."

Alexis squealed and threw her arms around him. "I will. I will. You won't believe how good I'll be."

As he untangled himself from Alexis, he saw that Kate was smiling at him.

"Okay, I don't have any human female uniforms or body armor. We'll have to go back to Jules' for that."

Jules was surprised to see Castle again, but was always glad to be of service. Especially if a profit was involved.

"Captain, I do have female body armor that will fit these two, with a skosh of work. I have no female uniforms, but we do have cloth and a cutting and sewing machine. If you'll excuse us, I'll have my daughter Kimiko make them up. I'll be no more than half an hour. The usual selection of uniform items?"

"Yes, and I may as well get load bearing equipment and the usual pouches and such. You know what my troops need."

Jules smiled. "Of course, sir. Whatever you need."

When they left the two women had on nice, warm clothing, far better than what they'd worn before. Kate had also noticed that they'd also been issued lighter uniforms, suitable for a much warmer planet than Transit. Not that that told her anything. Few planets were as cold as Transit.

Once back with Castle's company, the two signed a contract. Then they began their entrance into military life. They found they had a six-person tent to themselves as Castle didn't want them in with males of either races. They were given a quick medical exam, shown the mess hall, issued a weapon, which were both promptly returned to the armory, and then, wonder of wonders, they were allowed to take a hot shower.

That night Kate and Alexis snuggled down in sleeping bags on air mattresses in a nice warm tent.

"Kate, do you think we did the right thing?"

Kate thought for a moment. "We did the best we could. We weren't making it as beggars and we won't become prostitutes. That would leave trying to make a living with our guns. As heavily armed as everyone here is, we wouldn't last long."

"Do you think Captain Castle will protect us if some of Bracken's goons show up?"

Kate thought long and hard about that. "I wish I knew."

A week later, Castle got good news. The captain of the _Pink Zephyr, _the ship he'd hired to transport his advanced team sent him a message that his people had gotten down safely with all of their gear and met up with their allies. The _Pink Zephyr_ itself had to make a detour for a cargo, but would be at Transit in another month, well within the time frame he needed.

In the meantime, he ran his company through the combat course as often as he could. He put two experienced Tarkai NCOs on Alexis to teach her as much as she could learn. She seemed to be improving. Even Kate was doing better.

Castle hated to get over-confident, but it looked like things were going perfectly.

They weren't.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

"Captain, you've got a call on the local landline." Sergeant Thaife, the communications sergeant said.

"Who is it?"

"Don't know, sir. He wouldn't give his name."

Castle thought for a moment. There were all sorts of arms dealers, free lance intelligence operatives and mercenary recruiters that might want to contact him without giving away anything about themselves. On the other hand, his current mission would cause a lot of other people a lot of grief. It could be someone trying to warn him off, or even trying to blackmail him by threatening to release details of his job. He decided to be careful.

"I'll take it in my office. Trace the call, sergeant, and put it through."

After a moment, Castle picked up the phone. "Captain Richard Castle. To whom am I speaking?"

"My name is Vaughn, Captain, and I believe I can save you a lot of trouble."

"Trouble comes naturally in my business. I hope you're not one of those people who want me to give up my evil way and live the good life."

Vaughn laughed. "Not at all, Captain. Not at all."

"Then what do you want?"

"I want Kate Beckett. You have her."

"And why should I give one of my people to you?"

"Beckett is wanted on Earth for murder and other crimes. She's a fugitive."

"Mr. Vaughn, I don't think you'll find too many people this far from Earth who are at all impressed by some piece of paper from a court on Earth." There was silence on the other end of the line and Castle laughed. "From your silence, I'll bet you've found that out already."

"Beckett has offended a very powerful man, and he's determined to get her back to face justice one way or another. No matter what it takes. He's a very wealthy and powerful man and he gets what he wants."

"Let me tell you four things, if I may? One, taking a member of a battle-hardened mercenary company will neither be easy or cheap. Unless you've got a unit ready to hit me immediately, we won't be surprised. You'd need a pretty good unit to take us out. I'd guess it would cost your boss a good half a million US dollars. But let's leave that for a moment."

"Secondly, mercenaries stick together. If I just turned one of my people over to you, I wouldn't have a unit. I might even get a bullet in my head from my former comrades."

"Third, mercenaries are very familiar with death. We're very good at dealing it out and we're afraid of death, of course, but we willingly face it all the time."

"The fourth thing you should know is we do this for money. Money is what the mercenary life is all about. Now, killing me and my unit could cost your boss a lot of money. Do you think there's another option here?"

Vaughn laughed. "I think there is, Captain Castle. How about a hundred thousand US dollars?"

"To save your boss a half a million? Three hundred thousand. Take it or leave it."

"Done. Can you get Beckett to me by tonight?"

"Did you hear what I said about mercenaries sticking together? If I just knock her on the head and drag her over to you, my own men might kill me. I have to make it look like she deserted. I have an idea of how to do that. Do you know where William's Cross is?"

"I can find it."

"Good. Give me two days. We'll meet at the Cross on Fourday an hour after dawn. You come alone and bring the money. I'll come alone and bring the girl. We'll both leave happy."

"It's a pleasure doing business with you, Captain." Vaughn hung up.

Castle walked out of his office. "Sergeant Thaife, did you trace that call?"

"Yes, sir. He was calling from the Grognard. No doubt about it."

"Okay, get Privates Beckett and Harper in here, Sergeant Martens, Sergeant Thull and Lance Corporal Drarn."

Kate and Alexis arrived only seconds before the other three soldiers. "What did you want?" Kate asked.

"Do you know a man named Vaughn?"

"No, Captain, I don't. Should I know him?"

"He just offered me three hundred thousand US dollars for you. He apparently works for this Senator Bracken who's chasing you."

Kate was unarmed and realized she was surrounded by armed men who were loyal to Castle. _Why did I trust this man? _She thought. "You intend to sell me to him?"

"No, I intend to kill him."

"You're going to give up three hundred thousand dollars for me?" Kate couldn't keep the disbelief out of her voice.

"He has no intention of paying me anything. He agreed to pay the money I asked for without so much as a quibble. It's unlikely a hired gun this far from Earth has, or has access, to that kind of money. If he had it, he'd try to bargain. That way he'd have some left over for himself. More likely, he'd have to contact someone to get the money. There's no way he could do that by Fourday. No, he intends to kill me and take you. But I'm pretty sure I'm better at killing than he is."

"You have a plan?" Alexis asked.

"Oh, I have a plan." He turned to one of his NCOs, "Sergeant Martens, how would you like to go drinking tonight at the Grognard? On the company, of course."

A sort of a smile split Martens' damaged face. "I'd love to, sir."

"What's the Grognard?" Kate asked.

"It's French for groaner and an old French military slang term for an old soldier. It's the name of an inn just off the Transit Dirtside Spaceport. It's where Vaughn is."

It was well into the evening when Sergeant Martens walked into the Grognard. He took a table as far from the crowd as he could and growled an order for a bottle from the waitress.

"Want something more than a drink tonight, Colonel?" She whispered in his ear.

"Fuck off, bitch. "He snarled.

The waitress brought his bottle and left. She decided that anyone who's face was that badly shot up would probably want to take his anger out on anyone he could. Just as well that he'd said no, she decided.

Martens had actually had some restorative work done on his face. He'd never been a beauty to begin with, so he didn't really plan on getting much more work done. The best thing that he'd done was to get a new eye. He hadn't gotten one regrown and implanted, but he'd had a bio-mechanical eye put in. For a recon troop it was better than a biological eye. It had a night vision capability, he could detect heat signatures, it served as a telescope and it could record what he'd seen for later playback.

For tonight, he wore an overcoat that was two sizes too big for him to disguise the fact that he was wearing body armor and had a small submachine gun under his coat. Castle thought it was unlikely that anyone would make Martens, but he liked to be sure. To be extra sure, a squad of his soldiers was just down the street, passing a bottle around. Their weapons and armor were also well hidden.

Martens had no trouble finding Vaughn and his men. There were eight men at a large table. From the clothes, their accents, the way they threw money around and how loud they were, he knew they were from Earth. He could her them bragging to the whores with them about how tough they were and how they were going to make a big score in another two days. Martens smiled to himself and made sure he got a nice shot of each man's face for facial recognition purposes, in case they needed it later.

Vaughn wasn't with his men. He was in the dining room, which was only separated from the bar by a thin partition, and he was facing Martens. He couldn't hear what Vaughn was saying to the hooker with him, but he made sure he recorded it all. Their computer could lip read what he said later and transcribe it.

When Vaughn was done with his meal, he and his hooker went upstairs, soon followed by his men and their women. Martens waited until he'd finished his bottle and left, staggering a bit for effect.

Martens joined his comrades outside and briefed them on what he'd learned, all while passing a bottle around and laughing. When the bottle came to Martens, he was disgusted to find he was drinking cold tea.

As the troops staggered back to their base, one of their number quietly broke away from the group and disappeared into the shadows. Lance Corporal Drarn wasn't from the heavily forested county near the Golden Life plantations, but rather from the vast mountain ranges to the far south. He had been climbing since he was a little boy and that talent had attracted Castle's attention. He had found Drarn some inexpensive climbing gear which increased his abilities. Moving well into the dark of a small alley, he put on one of the few stealth suits the company had. Once switched on, the suit would blend into the background by transferring the background to the front of the suit and vice versa.

Drarn slipped down several alleyways until he reached the back of the Grognard. Quickly checking for any sign of life, he scampered up the side of the building to the second floor where the inn's bedrooms were. He crawled to the first window and attached a microscopic listening device to the window. He listened to it and cursed silently to himself. Three businessmen from Hansa were playing skat. He removed the bug.

He edged along the wall and placed a bug on the window. He had found Vaughn's room. The whore had been kind enough to call him Mr. Vaughn. After that there was only a lot of moaning and groaning. He left the bug in place and moved on. The next two rooms were filled with Vaughn's men. Bugs went on both windows. He listened for a while but heard only drunken mumbling. He climbed to the ground, took off the stealth suit and met with a fireteam from Castle's company who were seemingly just loafing around on a street corner.

Once Castle had been briefed, he and his officers got busy planning the ambush for Vaughn. As ambushes went, it was rather simple, but Castle wanted to make sure nothing went wrong.

After breakfast the next morning, Castle went into town to try to find something he needed for the ambush. He didn't find what he was looking for, but what he found was just what he needed.

After dinner, when it was dark, he called Kate Beckett over. "I have something to show you."

Castle pointed to some kind of a smallish, shaggy four-footed animal. Kate stared at it. "Okay. What is it?"

"A Przewalski's horse, sometimes known as a Mongolian Steppe Pony."

Kate stared at the horse. "And why do I need to see this?"

"It's part of my plan to ambush Vaughn."

"The horse is going to sneak up on him carrying a gun and kill him?"

"No, he's going to carry you. You're supposed to be knocked out when Vaughn and I meet. He'll be suspicious if you're walking beside me. I tried to find a small car, but there aren't many on Transit, at least not to rent for a night. However, I found Nikolai here and rented him."

"There are horses on Transit?"

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

Castle shook his head and grinned. "Oh, Miss Earth Bound City Slicker, there are horses all over the planets colonized by humans. Most colonies outside of the Core are too poor to have aircraft or ground vehicles available for the masses. Those kinds of vehicles are expensive, require expensive spare parts when they break down and trained mechanics to keep them operational. Not to mention expensive roads and/or landing grounds. Horses, on the other hand are relatively cheap, self-repairing, up to a point, don't require expensive fuel, and they replace themselves and even add to your herd."

"And I'm supposed to ride this?" Kate was familiar with police dogs of various sorts, but couldn't recall ever having seen a live horse before.

"Ride it? Of course not. You'll be slung over Nikolai here like a sack of oats. You're supposed to be unconscious, remember."

"Better than being dead, I suppose." Kate muttered unhappily.

Years before, someone had set up a large steel cross on a hill well outside of Transit Dirtside. On it was the name of Sergeant Daffyd Williams. No one now knew who Williams had been, or why anyone would put a cross up in his honor. Over the years a few people had dug around the cross, but there was no trace of Williams' body there or anything else worth having. An occasional soldier would shoot at the cross, just for the hell of it. Most stayed well away from it. Soldiers were generally a superstitious lot and anything to do with cemeteries or memorials to the dead was considered bad luck and best left alone.

Well before dawn on Fourday, Castle and Beckett set off for Williams' Cross. Kate was lying across Nikolai's back. From a distance it would appear that her hands and her feet were tied together, but they were not. She had an assault rifle in easy reach and wore body armor.

"Are you sure this will work?" She whispered to Castle.

'No. I'm never sure that things will work, but you were there when we planned this. Do you think this is a good idea?"

"No, but I can't think of a better one."

"Just remember, when the shooting starts, roll off of Nilolai and take cover. The assault rifle is there just in case things really turn to shit."

Kate made no reply and made no promises.

The arrived at the top of the hill the Cross was on. Castle looked around carefully. With his unaided eye, he couldn't see anyone else on the hill, or near it. He stood there with one hand on Nilolai's bridle and waited.

An hour after dawn, he saw a car slowly approach. He decided that Vaughn had a much larger budget than he did. He had a large, fancy Earth built car. Vaughn stopped the car at the bottom of the hill and got out. He was holding a small suitcase in his hand.

"I have your money. Do you have Beckett?"

"She's right here on the horse. Are you ready?"

"Sure. Do you want to come down here?"

Castle smiled and spoke softly into the mic clipped to his jacket collar. "Send it."

No sooner had he spoken that nine shots rang out. Vaughn was slammed backwards, a bullet through his brain. His eight men, who had taken cover the night before, died along with him. Castle's two two-man sniper teams and six of his best shots pulled themselves out from the sniper's hides they'd set up two nights before.

When Rick turned around, he found Kate kneeling with her assault rifle pointed at where Vaughn had stood. "Your people killed them before I could get a round off."

"Didn't I tell you to take cover unless things really turned to shit?"

Beckett stood and slung her rifle over her shoulder. "Did you really expect me to cower behind you like some little girl? As far as I'm concerned, when my ass is at stake, things have very much turned to shit."

Castle sighed and shook his head. "And a very fine ass it is. I can see that you'd like to protect it, but in the future, tell me if you're going to do something like this."

Kate just winked at him.

Sergeant Thull, the chief sniper, walked over to Rick and Kate. "I'm damned glad I can move around and get warm now, sir. Staying motionless for two days in this frozen hell is no fun."

"Even with your built-in fur coat?" Castle teased.

"This place is a lot colder than anyplace I've ever been on Tark, sir."

"Did you have any problems spotting them?"

Thull shook his head. "These people were strictly amateurs. They never thought that we'd get here before them and they weren't any good at digging in and camouflaging themselves. Even if we'd arrived with you and Private Beckett, a recruit could have spotted them and killed them." He shook his head. "Useless fuckers."

The rest of Castle's troops moved slowly down the hill and made sure that Vaughn and all of his people were dead. They were. Then they began stripping the dead of their weapons, body armor, comm gear and anything else of use. As they did so, one of Castle's platoons came up from a position near Williams' Cross where they had waited in case things really turned to shit.

Castle was briefed on what they'd found.

"The suitcase wasn't empty, sir. Vaughn had bottle of pretty good rum in it. I guess he was planning on celebrating, but there was no money in it."

"They had eight Earth built assault rifles, and we found twelve pistols among them, all Earth made. Vaughn himself had a submachine gun, Earth made of course and body armor. They each had a short range radio and an assortment of knives. None of their stuff is compatible with our stuff, sir."

Castle frowned. "Well, it looks like top of the line equipment, so we should be able to sell it all to Jules."

"They had about three hundred US dollars in cash on them, sir. They each had a preloaded bank card from the Bank of Zurich. No good to us without a password."

Sergeant Martens spoke up. "Sir, I know a guy who might be able to help with that. But he'll charge twenty percent of what's on the cards."

"We get their room keys?" Castle asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, take Vaughn's car and load a squad in it. Take Martens with you and drop him off at his friend's place. Then go to the Grognard and toss their rooms. Bring anything back that might be useful. Move."

"Have a squad dig a mass grave and put these people in it. Make sure the grave is deep enough to make sure no one finds them without going to a lot of trouble. Dig on the backside of the hill so no one sees you."

A squad unlimbered their E tools and got busy digging.

"Won't people be curious about the gunfire?" Kate asked

"You'd be amazed at just how little people at Transit Dirtside hear or see. Of course a little money might improve their memories, but it'll be a good long while before anyone comes looking for them."

Back at his headquarters tent, Castle looked over the equipment they had gotten. "Sergeant Major Saava, can you think of anything we need from Jules' that we might get for all this?"

Saava grinned. "I have a list that'll reach from here to Tark, sir. But you know as well as I do what we need. What we get depends on what Jules has and what we can get for the gear we now have."

Castle looked over at Kate and Alexis. "Anything you two need?"

"A quick ride out of here." Alexis said. "But I think that's coming. In time, I hope."

"You realize you've made an enemy in Bracken for what you've done? He'll want you dead as well."

Castle smiled. "He'll have to get in line."

After an hour, the squad came back on foot. Sergeant Martens reported. "We left the car a block away from the owner's place. No reason to give anyone the idea we had any connection with Vaughn. Although someone will figure it out eventually."

"Was your friend a help with the bank cards?"

Martens smiled. "That he was. The eight goons averaged a bit over two thousand US dollars on their cards and Vaughn's had over five thousand. All together 21, 104 dollars, less my friend's commission leaves us with $18,993." He handed Castle a piece of plastic." It's all here on a Banque du Commerce card in your name, sir."

Sub-Lieutenant Corroon, who had led the team to the Grognard spoke. "There were just a few things there, sir. We found four small handguns, backup weapons, I guess. We also found a really nice sniper rifle in one room. An 8.5mm Skoda Arms Model 600 with a range finder, day and night sight, a built in computer to calculate temperature, barrel wear…."

"And not compatible with our sniper rifles?" Castle broke in.

"No, sir, but she' a beauty. We also found a Skoda assault carbine in Vaughn's room. It's a brand new model, I'm sure. I've never even heard of it."

"If anyone here has, Jules will. And if he hasn't, he'll make something up."

"We also got Vaughn's pad, sir." The Sub-lieutenant held up a slim computer. "Again, top of the line."

"Damn. We'll need his password to open the damned thing."

Corroon held up a small scrap of paper. "Like this, sir?" Everyone laughed. "The good news is that Vaughn probably hadn't told his bosses back on Earth that he'd found Private Beckett. He has copies of every message he's sent going back fifteen months. The most recent one is dated eleven days ago and just says he's arrived on Transit and is chasing down a lead."

"Who's the message to?" Kate asked.

"Some guy named Oliver. Franklin Oliver."

Kate nodded. "One of Bracken's head goons. He's dangerous."

"We have some bad news, Private Beckett. This Oliver sent Vaughn a list of people who'd been executed for treason for the death of Senator Daley." Corroon handed the pad to Kate.

Kate began to tear up. "Oh my God! This is my whole close protection team, Ryan, Esposito, Stegner, Hastings….Everyone. He had them all killed."

"He'll want you even worse now." Alexis whispered in her ear.

"Anything else on the pad?" Castle asked, wanting to change the subject.

"He did have a plan in case we wouldn't go along with handing Private Beckett over. He'd been talking to Conroy's Legion. No details about us that I've found, just some preliminary discussions about costs."

"Conroy's Legion?" Kate asked.

"A pretty good small mercenary unit. Two companies of infantry and a heavy weapons company. If they'd caught us unawares, they'd have been able to shoot us to pieces with their weapons company." He turned back to Corroon. "Anything else?"

Corroon went on. "The guy was really into sado-porn and he has a whole list of expensive stuff he wanted to buy once he got rich. The pad does have access to another account for the Bank of Zurich. But this one requires he go into the local branch and establish his ID by giving a sample of his DNA. I don't think the fine folks at the bank would be too happy if we showed up with Vaughn's recently dug up corpse and asked to make a withdrawal."

"I'd like to see their faces if we did." Castle said. "Okay, we'll take the rest of the day off, but we'll double the guards and no one goes into town. Vaughn was probably the only one of Bracken's goons here, but let's not take chances. Dismissed."

When everyone had left the headquarters tent, Kate Beckett stayed behind. "I wanted to thank you for what you did. Not many people would have done that for me."

"Actually, I didn't really do anything. I knew Vaughn wasn't going to pay me, so either he'd kill me or I'd kill him. I'm just better at doing that than he was. And once you'd signed on, handing you over was not an option. My people have to trust me. When you side with a man, you stay with him. And if you can't do that, you're like some animal. You're finished." He looked at Beckett and smiled. "The same goes for a woman, of course."

**Author's note: Anyone recognize where I stole most of Castle's last line from?**

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

"Do you think I could have a drink of that rum, Captain? That is, if it wouldn't be fraternization."

Castle opened the bottle and got two glasses out. "We don't stand on ceremony here. The Tarkai are a tribal people and this is now their tribe. I'm the boss, but if I started putting on airs, they'd laugh at me."

Rick and Kate shared a drink and then another. She talked about her life on Earth. He talked about his life as a mercenary, but said nothing of his life before that.

The next day Castle took the equipment he'd acquired to Jules'. As always, Jules was happy to see him. "Captain Castle. How are you this fine day?"

"Quite well, thank you. I have some weapons and equipment that I'd like to sell and I have a bit of money to buy a few things." Castle had the men he'd brought with him place the weapons and gear on Jules' counter.

"Business all in good time, my friend. But first we should have some coffee. And some for your lady as well?"

Neither Rick nor Kate was exactly sure as to how to characterize their relationship, so both allowed the term "your lady" to stand. Rick and Kate sat with Jules at his table while the Tarkai, who didn't enjoy coffee had some lemonade.

After a cup of coffee and some discussion of trivialities, they got down to business.

"Earth made weapons. Very nice. Can you get me more?"

Rick shook his head. "This is all I was able to acquire."

Jules knew a man who ran a small deep reconnaissance insertion team who was always looking for Earth made weapons. He didn't tell Rick that, of course.

Eventually, between trade for the weapons and gear and his new found cash, Rick left with 50 more Model 71 carbines, more ammo, and some other gear he'd been hoping to obtain, but had been afraid he'd never be able to afford.

Sergeant Major Saava greeted Rick back at the company headquarters with a smile. "We've got good news and bad news, sir."

"I'll take the good news if you please, sergeant major."

"We got a message from the _Pink Zephyr. _She's picked up her last cargo and is headed back to Transit. She'll be here in five days."

"Good. I'll be glad to get out of here and on our way. What's the bad news?"

"Not what, sir, but who. Private O'Hara is here. He needs a job."

"Good morning, sir." A shaky voice said from underneath a desk. O'Hara rose from the desk looking much the worse for wear. His uniform was torn, and missing any kind of heavy coat or jacket. He was unshaven, dirty from head to foot and had the remnants of a black eye and cuts on his face. He was a big man normally, but looked a lot skinnier than the last time Rick had seem him.

Rick looked him over. "I'll assume alcohol was involved. As for the rest, was it someone else's woman, a game of chance, or something shiny that belonged to someone else?"

"Cards, sir. They accused me of cheating. I had won a lot of their money. I didn't cheat, sir."

"I'll believe you, O'Hara. You're not good enough to cheat anyone at cards when you're sober and you're hopeless when you've had a few. I assume they caught up with you?"

"No, sir. I grabbed a pool cue and let them have it."

"Then how did you get in the state you're in?"

"The only way off planet in a hurry was on a Nebeldian freighter. They hate humans and treated me like shit. If It'd taken me any longer to get to Transit, I'd have landed as a corpse."

"Given that I know you and what a colossal pain in the ass you can be, why should I sign you on?"

O'Hara smiled. "You have mortars and one recoilless rifle. You know I can work wonders with those weapons. I know your heavy weapons troopers, and they're pretty good, but not as good as me. I'm an artist."

Castle thought for a moment. "So you are, Sergeant O'Hara, so you are. You'll be working for Lieutenant Popho who is in command of weapons platoon. As I'm sure you know, we're doing this job on spec, so we don't get paid unless and until we win."

"I understand, sir."

Castle turned to Saava. "Take him and get him clothed and equipped, cleaned up and fed and them take him to Lieutenant Popho and give the lieutenant the good news."

**The ****_Pink Zephyr_**

The first night out of Transit, Castle had been invited to dine with Captain Coleman in her quarters. Coleman had a smooth, unlined face, perfect teeth and a cute little nose. Her boobs, which were on display were firm, pert and perky. Except for her silver hair and eyebrows, she looked too young to both own and command a spaceship, even a tramp freighter prowling the less travelled space lanes looking for anything that would make money.

The food was better than any he'd had on a transport before, although not up to the standards of the Commander's Club, but very few places were. The wine with dinner was very good and the after dinner brandy was excellent. Castle wondered if Coleman treated all of her guests like this, or if he was somehow special. He suspected the latter and wondered what might make him special.

"Are you sleeping with the brunette?" Coleman suddenly asked.

"Corporal Beckett? No, I'm not. Why do you ask?"

"If your plan works out, we'll be doing business together. I like to know the people I deal with. Corporal Beckett seems to spend a great deal of time with you."

"She's from Earth and went to university there. I spent two years at a military college in the UK, and one of my lieutenants spent a year in an officer's training unit. The rest are what we call mustangs. They started as privates and worked their way up. Corporal Beckett is the only one in the unit with a handle on the paperwork involved. Even a small unit like mine requires more paperwork than I had imagined. I really don't do paperwork."

Coleman nodded. "Better her than the redhead. That one is used to the finer things in life. She's looking for a man with a nice, tidy fortune. If she sleeps with you, it won't last. I think Beckett is interested in you."

"It's not a good idea to get romantically involved with your subordinates." Castle said stiffly.

"Almost your whole company are Tarkai. When they get home, they'll get back together with their wives and sweethearts they left behind. Or they'll find new women for themselves. You've said you're as much a tribal leader as a mercenary unit commander. Your tribe will expect their chieftain to take a wife and have children as other chieftains do. You won't have a great choice of women where you're going. You could do worse."

"Corporal Beckett has a choice in this as well, you know."

Coleman poured some more brandy. "That she does, but we need to talk business. Right now, the pricks in the Geiser Corporation don't see me as enough of a threat to justify the money it would cost to keep me away from Tark. Consequently, I come in once or twice a year and pick up raw Golden Life leaves. I make enough to make it worthwhile and the Tarkai get weapons and ammo from me." She took a long drink of brandy. "Geiser really has the planet sewed up tight. They control the only spaceport, limiting trade to their ships or ships like mine than can land and take off from anywhere on a planet. You want to borrow money to buy a plantation? Geiser has the only bank. You need to buy necessities or luxuries? Geiser has the only stores. You want to sell your crop? You can only sell to Geiser, at their prices. You want a damned drink? Geiser owns the only bar."

"I want to change that." Castle said, softly.

"I know you do, Sport. But if you start protecting the Tarkai tribes so they can gather more leaf, and if you start raiding the plantations to "liberate" the product and their Tarkai slaves, and killing off people, Geiser is going to have to do something about you. And they'll want to stop you from getting any off-planet support. That means stopping me. My ship is fast and I'm not unarmed, but if they put a couple of small warboats around this planet, I could get my fine white ass shot off."

Castle held up his hand. "First, I'm going to organize first. I'm not going to rush into battle the first damned thing. Raiding parties from the plantations have pushed the Tarkai tribes back a couple of hundred miles. Geiser won't know I'm gathering the tribes, increasing the collection of leaves and getting arms until I'm ready to strike. Then they'll have so much trouble they won't have time for you."

"I sure hope you're right."

When Castle got back to his quarters, he found Beckett there. "Did she want to sleep with you?" She demanded.

"No, but she did ask if I was sleeping with you."

"What did you tell her?" Beckett asked suspiciously.

"I said I wasn't."

She smiled at him. "Liar."

The next day Castle gathered all of his troops together in one crowded cargo space to brief them on what was ahead. "Some of you know some of this, some of you know all of it, but I'm going to tell everyone everything so we're all on the same page, so to speak." He took a deep breath. "I was born on Tark. My father had been hired by the Geiser Corporation to get the commercial growing of Golden Life going. My family had to contact the tribes to arrange for workers, hire human managers and then independent planters, arrange for seeds, fertilizer…A whole lot of things. My dad insisted we treat the Tarkai fairly. We paid them well, my mother ran a school for the children and even did some research on giving them medical care. Things went fine for a number of years. But then there were problems. A few of the independent planters complained about having to pay what they considered too high wages. They complained about having Tarkai away from work to go to school, or to be treated for sickness. More and more of the planters began to complain. When I was ten, I snuck away from a family gathering to play with my Tarkai friends in the woods. A man named Demming showed up at our place with the other unhappy planters. They told my father they wouldn't follow his rules any more. He reminded them that they were under contract to do exactly what he told them to do. That's when Demming made his move. He shot my father and killed him. I heard the shots and came running. Luckily, a Tarkai woman who worked for us ran away and caught me before I could get home. Otherwise, I would have been killed. But while we hid in the woods, I watched my sisters being raped and then murdered. My youngest sister was only eight. My brothers were beaten to death."

He stopped for a moment, unable to continue. "The Tarkai took me to the spaceport, hoping I'd be safe there. I was lucky. There was a recruiting team there from Black Jacques Schram's Brigade. Even then, Tarkai were renowned as scouts and trackers. I told them I wanted to become a soldier so I could kill the men who'd killed my family. At first, they laughed at a ten-year-old boy wanting to be a soldier. But, they decided that a human who spoke the local Tarkai language and knew their customs, might be useful eventually. They took me away, and Schram had me put in a Forces school. A military school. Eventually I went to a two-year reconnaissance officer's training school. "

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

"Demming and his men killed off or drove away any humans who wouldn't follow him. He began enslaving the Tarkai. He forged a contract that purported to show that my dad had sold everything to him and left the planet. The Geiser Corporation decided it was easier and cheaper to just accept what Demming said had happened to my family and to not worry about what was happening with the Tarkai. Since then, nearly thirty thousand humans have moved to Tark and made themselves and Geiser wealthy."

"As you know, I've sent a team to Tark already. There's a recon team gathering intel on the plantations. There are four armed-propaganda teams letting the tribes know that I'm coming with a company of soldiers and weapons for the Tarkai. This will not be a quick campaign. I don't plan to attack the plantations until I have all the tribes surrounding the valley on our side and armed. But I plan to win. Any questions so far?"

There were none, so Castle continued. He brought up a holographic map of the area around the Golden Life Valley. "This is courtesy of our ship's captain who took photos from orbit of our area of operations. You can clearly see the valley where the plantations are located. It's a rough rectangle, slightly narrower in the north than in the south. The Kambala River runs through it. To the right, or east, is the town of Golden Valley. A little farther out is the spaceport. There are a couple of cargo lighters based at the spaceport, but most ships that trade with Tark carry their own cargo lighters. Only ships that can land on a planet, like this one, trade with the Tarkai. The plantation closest to the city is where my home used to be. Demming and his family live there now. One day we will pay a call on them."

There was some discussion of the strategy and tactics to be used, but these were very professional soldiers and understood what was expected of them.

Two days later they were in orbit around Tark. Captain Coleman came to see Castle as he got his troops ready to disembark.

"Good news, Captain Castle. It's raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock at your landing zone. The spaceport has shitty radar and they only man it when they're expecting a ship in, so the only worry you'll be seen is maybe an aircraft from one of the plantations. There aren't many of them and no one will risk an expensive aircraft in weather like this. You ready to land?"

Castle nodded. "Damn right I am."

**Tark**

Coleman had been right. Rain was pouring down on the ship and the people around it. She had expertly landed her ship in a small landing strip cut from the great forest that covered this part of Tark. A long line of Tarkai carried bales of Golden Life leaves into the ship and left carrying the rifles and ammunition they'd traded for as well as the equipment for Castle's company.

He had examined the weapons that the Tarkai were buying. They were simple, UK made, semi-automatic hunting rifles. Although they only had iron sights, they did at least use the same ammo as the Type 71 carbines Castle had brought and the weapons his own troops used.

He stood in the cargo hold with his officers around him, talking to Lieutenant Baratt, who had commanded the advanced party.

"We've checked out fifty-one of the plantations and the town. I started by using my six-man recon team as one unit, but I figured out pretty quick that we'd take forever to check out all four hundred plantations. It turns out people here keep a pretty close watch on the plantations to the south to watch for slaving expeditions. At first, I had two soldiers with two locals, then I reduced it to one soldier. That's so every scout team would have a radio and one person with a modern weapon. I've had our soldiers ditch their uniforms and wear local clothing, pretty much. The humans here abouts don't seem to pay much attention to their surroundings, so if they manage to see anything, they'll think it's just some damned furry natives running loose."

"Any conclusions you can make based on the plantations you've reconned." Castle asked.

"They're sloppy, sir. They put slave collars in our people that will explode if you try to take them off and will deliver a shock to the wearer as a punishment. The shocks will go all the way up to lethal. They figure that and a few guards is all they need. They even let the slaves go out in the woods to gather firewood and such. When we need to, we can approach them and get agents inside the plantations. Their communications security sucks as well. They're planning two slave raids now. One to the south and one to the west."

"What can you tell me about the raids?" Castle asked.

"They use helicopters or light airplanes to scout for villages. Our people have to grow crops to survive, and no matter how hard they try to camouflage them, they can be spotted from the air. Then they drop knockout gas from the planes and the slavers use vehicles to pick up their new slaves. They collar them and head back home, sir. The slavers will be moving to the south and west more and more. The valley goes through real hilly terrain to the north and the soil to the east isn't good for growing anything."

"How have the armed propaganda teams been doing?"

"Really good, sir. The four tribes just to the south of the plantations get the brunt of the slaving. Those are the Callaspi, Thornod, Besteenly and Gorp-Thorum. They're ready and waiting for us. The only problem is that the young warriors are all hot to grab their new weapons and attack now. They got no patience. Other tribes to the south of us, along the Kambala River, haven't been hit by the slavers very hard. They're more worried about other tribes moving into their territory and shoving them out."

"When can I talk to the tribal chiefs?"

"Four of them are waiting for you at Callaspi Town, sir. There are also a couple of war-leaders from other tribes here, just to hear what you have to say and go back and report to their chiefs."

"Let's go."

He and his troops were led to a well-built log longhouse in the village. As Castle entered, he felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him. He had been in this very long house as a boy, back before everything had gone so horribly wrong. There, sitting on a chair piled high with furs as pillows was old Shamsa, known as Grey Ears. Others were gathered around him. Castle thought he knew some of them, others he did not.

Shamsa spoke. "Welcome, stranger, to my house and to my family. Will you share a drink with us?" He gestured to a large earthen ware pot that held several gallons of fiery alcohol.

"I will drink with you all, Chief Shamsa, but I am not a stranger." Castle knew that Shamsa and everyone here knew who he was, but he was expected to announce himself. "I am the son of Jackson Rodgers and Martha Rodgers. My name was Richard Rodgers until the day that evil men came and killed my whole family and brought pain and devastation to this land. I see old Keeta standing over there." He gestured to the old woman. "She prevented me from running to my family and to my death on that day and led me to the spaceport where I found shelter and a way off this world. To protect myself from the evil men, I became Richard Castle and also became a soldier. I have come with my troops and my weapons to avenge my family's death and your suffering."

Shamsa smiled. "I know well who you are, you who are now Captain Richard Castle. Come, sit by my side, share a drink with all of us and tell us of your life and plans."

Castle impulsively took Kate's hand and led her to sit beside him. Shamsa dipped a cup into the pot and filled it with alcohol, and handed it to Rick. Then he did the same for Kate.

Castle briefly told of his life since leaving Tark and then went into his plan to recover his lost family legacy and free the Tarkai from slavery. He saw that his plan was not being favored by the younger and more aggressive warriors present. He knew that his plan of slowly building up an army of Tarkai, using guerilla tactics until they could face the slavers on better than equal terms, would not be popular.

When he was done, one young warrior stood up. "This human's idea is foolishness. We have guns of our own. Let him give us the guns he brought and add to them the weapons his soldiers have. My own brother was taken a slave two years ago. His wife and his children cry for him each night. All of us have parents, children, brothers and sisters or friends who have been taken or killed by these humans. Let us go kill them and take our own back!

There was a murmur of agreement around the longhouse, but before Castle could speak, Sergeant Major Saava rose to speak. "Be silent, child. I am Sergeant Major Saava, of this tribe and of the tribe of Richard Castle. I have been a soldier since before you were born. What you say is foolish. Yes, you have weapons and we have some weapons for you. And, we have our own weapons, some of which are very powerful weapons. But, we are few. There are some on hundred and fifty trained soldiers here. Add to this two-hundred and fifty rifles we have for you and your own rifles. We would have five hundred warriors and soldiers armed with modern weapons. There are five or six thousand armed humans who would oppose us. They can bring in more men, more weapons and more ammunition from off planet. We must wait for the _Pink Zephyr _to return before we can get a small amount of ammunition. We have ammunition for one good firefight and no more. When that is gone, our weapons are no more than clubs. Do not tell me that we will get our families and friends back by attacking the humans now. They would defeat us and drive us far from the Golden Life Valley, those that they did not kill or enslave. Your plan is for suicide for this entire tribe. Say no more of it."

Saava sat down and Castle heard a long muttering going through the crowd. He hoped it was favorable to him.

Shamsa nodded. "I think we have heard both sides enough. I and the chiefs from the other tribes and our advisors will retire now to ponder our possibilities. When we have decided, we shall let everyone know."

As Castle and Beckett left the longhouse, Keeta, the woman who had saved him on that long ago day approached. "Richard Castle who was Richard Rodgers, would you come and stay with me in my longhouse? It is not as grand as the longhouses I have heard the humans have on their worlds, nor even as grand as Shamsa's longhouse, but it is warm and dry. My children have now left to build their own longhouses. Please come with your woman and be my guest."

Rick tool a quick glance at Beckett who nodded very slightly. "We would be honored to join you, Auntie Keeta."

After a dinner of both local and off world food, and a drink of the fiery alcohol served in every Tarkai longhouse, Rick and Kate spread their sleeping bags on a mattress stuffed with aromatic moss. After a glance at Kate, Rick attached the two bags together to make one.

"Do you think that the chiefs will agree with your plan?" Kate asked.

"I hope so. I didn't come all this way, make all these plans for some hotheads to ruin them. And the chiefs are a conservative lot. They'll want to see how my plans work out at the beginning before they start a full blown war with the slavers."

"Are you worried?"

"Of course."

"Do you think fooling around would help?"

"Why, Corporal Beckett, I thought you'd never ask."

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

The next morning, they all met at Shamsa's longhouse again. Once more, Rick was asked to sit next to Shamsa and once more, Kate joined him.

Shamsa spoke. "We have pondered this. To be rid of the slavers would be a good thing. But wars are easy to start, but harder to stop. Therefore, we will agree to allow Captain Castle to put the first part of his plan into operation. He will, with our help, continue to keep an eye on the slavers. He will use his machines to listen to the slavers and learn of their plans for slave raids. It has been suggested that when we gather the Golden Life leaves, that we hide each bale separately so that if our villages are raided, the slavers will not find all of them as when we kept them in our villages. This plan is good and will be done. Does anyone wish to comment?"

Shamsa and Castle looked at the young warriors who had wanted immediate war the night before. Now, they sat quietly and said nothing.

"Then it is done." Shamsa said. Then he smiled. "Now we must have breakfast."

Lance Corporal Daska was shaken awake by the warrior now on watch. "Lance Corporal, Beer Belly is at it again."

Daska moved slowly so as not to cause any movement in the hide they had carefully built above one of the plantations. Beer Belly was the name he had given to the obese human who was one of the guards on the plantation. Daska grabbed his binoculars and swept the area around the plantation before zeroing in on the area where Beer Belly usually was. Sure enough, the human was laying down behind a tree where he couldn't be seen from the rest of the plantation. He made a pillow of his coat and settled down for a nice, afternoon nap. On the other side of the tree was an older Tarkai that they had nicknamed Sentry. His job was to warn Beer Belly of any humans coming. If one did, Beer Belly would stand up and arrange his clothing as if he had just peed. But few ever came near him.

Daska took out his notebook and wrote down the time, date and a summary of Beer Belly's actions, or rather, lack of any actions.

"We could slit his throat and take his weapon." The warrior said hopefully.

"And how many Tarkai slaves would they kill trying to find out what happened?" Daska snarled. "And they might find out about us. Do not be foolish, recruit."

The warrior nodded and smiled. He was one of the warriors who had been chosen to be armed with the Model 71 carbines and be trained by Castle's troops. He was very proud of the fact, but still had much to learn.

Daska watched for a bit and decided that Beer Belly wasn't going to do anything worth watching. "I'm going to check around us." He handed his binoculars to the recruit. "Keep watch."

He carefully moved to the end of the hide, past two more recruits who were asleep, and backed out of the hide. They were on a steep hill a half a mile from the plantation. They hadn't seen a human anywhere near the hill since they'd been keeping watch, but Daska kept checking.

The lance corporal was dressed like any other of the local Tarkai. He wore ankle boots made from the hides of a local animal, and baggy pants and a shirt made of a local equivalent of cotton. The grey material had been daubed with green and brown dye as a form of camouflage. His shirt was far baggier than normal as it had to disguise the fact that he wore body armor and load bearing equipment carrying spare ammo clips, a first aid kit, water, a rain poncho and a small radio. His assault rifle hung across his body in easy reach of his hands. He used his excellent sense to determine that there were no humans, or other Tarkai, around them and then relaxed.

He thought about what he had seen in the last week and what he had heard from other recon teams. The humans were unforgivably sloppy. They never patrolled outside of their own plantations, as they had no fear at all of the free Tarkai. What security they had was aimed at keeping their slaves in line. He had thought out a raid on the plantation what should destroy it and free the Tarkai. First, they would use explosives to destroy the power generator. Tark had no power grid as more developed planets did. With no power, the slave collars could not be activated and could be cut off with no problem. This would also leave their radio without power, preventing the slavers from calling for help. The freed slaves could the load up as much processed Golden Life leaves as they could carry. The rest could be destroyed along with the processing equipment. Neither the slaver's house nor the buildings housing his human employees were built to withstand gunfire. The forest came close enough to the buildings for the Tarkai to fire grenades into the houses. Incendiary grenades would set everything on fire.

Daska smiled to himself. Of course, this would only work for a while. The humans would react, building stronger buildings, cutting back the forest, bringing in more gunmen and more and better weapons. But, this would take time and money.

"Lance Corporal Daska." The recruit called softly. "Humans."

Daska crawled back in the hide. "Who is it?"

"Boobs and the Engineer. At it again."

Boobs was one of the daughters of the slaver, named for obvious reasons. The Engineer ran the processing plant and was Boobs' lover. Daska had seen Boobs give water to thirsty Tarkai and had once given aid to an injured slave and insisted he be off work for several days. Daska hoped that she wouldn't die when they attacked, but that was hardly up to him. He reached for his notebook to continue his report.

As he dismounted, Sergeant O'Hara cursed, for the thousandth time, whoever it was who had introduced horses to Tark. He vowed to himself that he would find him and kill him slowly. Very slowly. Very, very slowly.

As had happened when the Spaniards had introduced the horse to the Americas, horses had run wild on Tark or had been stolen by the Tarkai. While wild horses were not as numerous as they had been on the pre-spaceflight great plains of North America, they were numerous and the locals had enough to mount O'Hara's small patrol.

O'Hara was a heavy weapons soldier, but the Tarkai were being trained as light infantrymen. There was no one for O'Hara to teach his hard won skills to, so he was temporarily excess to requirements. That made him the perfect NCO to lead this patrol.

"Are you all right, Sergeant?" Corporal Feena asked as O'Hara stretched and groaned.

"I will be as soon as I find and kill whoever brought these fucking animals to Tark."

"There have been horses here since my grandfather was a lad, if not before…" Feena began.

O'Hara cut him off. "I know. I'm just bitching. Soldiers bitch, you know. Now get Pallentot'kin over here so we can look at the damned map."

Pallentot'kin was not from one of the local Tarkai tribes, and spoke another language and worshipped different gods. His father was a trader who travelled about with a string of pack horses and Pakkentot'kin, trading with tribes far and near. He had confessed to Castle that he was as interested in seeing what was over the next hill as he was in making a profit. And, he had told Castle an interesting story about a human plantation many, many miles from the Golden Life Valley. This had led to the patrol that O'Hara now led.

O'Hara grabbed a map from his saddlebags and spread it out for Feena, Pallentot'kin and the rest of his patrol to see. "Okay, now that's the waterfall over there, "he pointed, "and the mountain like a witch's hat over there. That means we're right here." O'Hara tapped the map. All of the patrol agreed with him.

"So, we're a day's ride from the ridgeline here." He tapped the map again. "We should be able to see our destination from the top of the ridge and get some idea of what's there."

Again, the patrol agreed with him.

"So, let's hobble the horses, light a fire and have dinner. Then we can pass around a bottle of the good stuff."

"The good stuff?" Corporal Feena said. Some human expressions were still unfamiliar to him.

"Alcohol, young troop. That lovely home brew that you lads make."

"But we brought none with us." Feena said.

O'Hara reached into his saddlebags and brought out two bottles. "And this is why I'm a sergeant and you're a corporal. Now, get busy."

The next night they stopped at the top of the ridgeline. Once they were settled in for the night, Corporal Feena said he thought he could see a light in the distance, possibly a fire.

Using his binoculars, O'Hara could see nothing. "We'll find out tomorrow."

But the next day brought rain so heavy they could barely make out the foot of the ridge they were on.

O'Hara cursed. "The best scout and tracker is young Villus, am I right?"

Corporal Feena nodded. "One of the best in the company."

"Tell him to change out of his uniform and into his civvies. He's not to make contact with whoever's out there unless he can't avoid it. He's to take a quick look around and head back here. Depending on what he sees, we'll decide what to do next."

Once Villus was on his way, O'Hara went to the horse that was carrying their radio and called Captain Castle to report.

After two days in the pouring rain, Villus came back to report. "I got near to the plantation. It appears to be as we were told. I had to move very slowly as they are alert. Much more so than any other plantations we've scouted."

O'Hara thought for a moment. "Okay, we'll ride in tomorrow openly. Villus and Borthun will stay behind with the horse with the radio and their own mounts. Should things not go well, they are to contact Captain Castle and then head back home. No heroics. Understand?"

The next day dawned bright and clear, and a bit warm. O'Hara knew that they'd be seen a mile away when they rode in. Sure enough, as soon as they were out of the trees, humans and Tarkai began running for the plantation buildings. When they came out, they were armed.

"I'd say a hundred, at least, wouldn't you agree, Corporal?"

Feena nodded. "And thirteen of us, now. Even with our weapons, we're in deep shit if they start shooting."

"Lip deep in shit with the tide coming in." O'Hara replied.

The patrol stopped in front of what appeared to be the main house, or at least the largest building. Slightly in front of the humans and Tarkai was an older human woman, grey of hair and spare of frame. She did not look happy to see her new guests.

O'Hara smiled at her. "Good day to you, ma'am. I'm Captain O'Hara of Colonel Castle's Brigade, supporting the Tark Anti-Slavery Alliance and the Tark Liberation Front. We're just one of the colonel's patrols scouting about."

Castle had told O'Hara to exaggerate the size of the unit. If this plantation, so far from the Golden Life Valley, was hostile, it was better that they thought that there was a powerful mercenary force supporting the Tarkai.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

The woman nodded slowly. "I've never heard of your unit, soldier, nor of the Tarkai organizations you speak of."

O'Hara saw that more humans and Tarkai had arrived and that they were all armed. He ran a professional eye over the weapons. They would be considered obsolete by any modern army, but they seemed well maintained and the people holding them seemed to know what they were doing.

"I don't imagine any of your people are slaves, but you must know that the plantations in Golden Life Valley depend on slave labor."

The woman spat. "Aye, when our folk arrived here twenty years in the past, we came thinking the Tarkai were free laborers, and were shocked to find they were slaves. The Good Lord does not approve of His children being treated as property." The woman crossed herself, as did the other humans and Tarkai. O'Hara crossed himself as well.

The woman went on. "We had spent all of our money to come to Tark, but we could not stomach becoming sinful slaveholders. So, we bought the slaves they had for us and told the sinners that we were striking out for new territory. As soon as we were far enough away, we struck the manacles from our brother's and sister's and went on until the Good Lord gave us a sign to stop here. And here we stay."

"I shall report your godliness to our commander and the Tarkai in the valley." O'Hara said, hoping he didn't sound sarcastic.

"I do not approve of soldiers fighting for coin and not for principals, but the Good Lord does move in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform." This time, O'Hara crossed himself before she did.

"And you think you can defeat these sinners, Captain?"

O'Hara nodded and thought back to his childhood when he went to Mass every Sunday. ""The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

The woman nodded. "I'm Mrs. Ruth Baden. My husband is off to the west, doing some hunting with some of our friends. He shan't be back for several days. "She looked at where the sun was in the sky. "Not quite time for lunch, but I suppose we could have a bit of a chat before eating. Dismount and come inside, all of you. I'd be interested in finding out what's happened beyond our little patch here."

O'Hara found that the Badens and their people had no contact with the plantations in Golden Life Valley, nor did they wish any. They were also vaguely sympathetic to the goals of Castle and the Tarkai, but would not get involved in a war. Lastly, O'Hara found that they sold their crops regularly to another trader, but not the captain of the _Pink Zephyr_. O'Hara tried to find out more about this trader, but Mrs. Baden became remarkably closed mouthed.

They spent the night at the plantation and he next morning O'Hara rode off to radio a report back to Castle and begin the very long ride back to their base.

Rick Castle reminded himself of the old saying, "Amateurs talk about strategy, but professionals talk about logistics." as the elderly Tarkai woman droned on and on beside him.

"Captain, we now have six weavers busy making cloth for the uniforms for your new recruits. Once the weavers here have woven the cloth, it's cut and sewn together by the seamstresses." She pointed to another group of women in the longhouse. "We have been advised that the green and brown camouflage dyes are most effective when they run horizontally as opposed to vertically. Now if you will step over here?" She moved further down the longhouse. "Here we are making the chest rigs that you requested. As you can see, they have eight pockets for the magazines for our new rifles, or rather carbines. There is a pocket on the left here for a grenade, and on the right is a pocket for a first aid kit, holding a bandage and anti…anti…" She struggled with the unfamiliar word.

"Antibiotics." Warrant Officer O'Neal, the company medic finished for her. The medic continued. "The rind of the _cholum_ fruit makes a very nice antibiotic, sir. The Tarkai have been using it for centuries, but we've managed to improve it a bit by…"

They were interrupted. "Captain Castle, sir. You're needed at headquarters."

Castle managed to keep from smiling with relief at being spared any more logistics. "I'm on my way. "He turned to the people working in the longhouse. "You're all doing a wonderful job and we really appreciate all of your hard work, but I have to go."

When he got to his headquarters, he found two of his officers, Baratt and Corroon, intently studying a map.

"What is it?"

"Sir, we just got a call from Recon Team Cobra. A helicopter landed briefly at 4SMR35702144. It dropped of a lone Tarkai and left. The Tarkai is wearing a breechclout and a vest, like some of the southern tribes wear and is armed with a sword and a bow and arrows. He's headed pretty much straight for Thornod's Town, sir."

Castle looked at the map. "We should be able to send a patrol from here to cut him off long before he reaches Thornod's Town. Have RT Cobra keep him in sight and send a patrol to about here. Take him alive if at all possible. I'd like to know why a Tarkai would be on the side of the slavers."

Four hours later the patrol brought in a bedraggled looking, disarmed Tarkai with his hands tied behind him.

"He says he's named Arbothin, and he's a hunter from the White River area. He said he's heard that there's good hunting here and wanted to check it out."

"Is that true?" Castle asked.

"Yes. Of course." He looked right into Castle's eyes when he said this.

"Then why did my scouts see you get dropped from a helicopter that could only have come from the north?"

He shrugged. "They are wrong."

"Then perhaps we should just keep you here and see what happens when the helicopter returns?"

He sighed and looked away from Castle. "If I am not there to meet them with a report, they will torture my son. Perhaps kill him. He is the only child my wife and I have."

"You're a slave on one of the plantations?"

"Yes. The plantation of Lord Thomas. I was captured five years ago when I foolishly approached some humans. I now have a mate and a son. I will have no more children if I do not return, nor a mate."

"So, you were forced to come here because your family was threatened?"

"That is so."

Corroon spoke. "The slavers have not sent spies to our lands ever before. Why do you come now?"

"They suspect you are planning something. Something big."

Castle wondered if there was a leak in his security somewhere.

"Why do they think that?" He asked.

"There have been no attacks for months. Always before, there are attacks from the wild Tarkai. The humans think there must be some great plot afoot. They sent me to find it."

Castle laughed. "We stopped raiding the plantations so they wouldn't suspect we were here, and so they're suspicious of something because there have been no raids. Murphy is alive and well on this planet, gentlemen."

He turned to the spy. "Do you wish for your mate and your son to be free? To not be slaves?"

"More than anything."

"You have seen I have soldiers here and powerful weapons. We are here to free the Tarkai and avenge my family. When are you expected to return to be picked up?"

"In six days."

"Good. Stay here for a while, then go back. Tell them that the wild tribes are planning something, but that you were unable to find out what. In the meantime, you look like you could use a good meal."

Once Arbothin was led away, Castle ordered that he be watched closely. They he went back to the map. "Gentlemen, it seems we need to plan a raid or two."

The man who called himself Private Mike Bennett reached out and slowly stroked the barrel of his rifle. He had loved guns since he was fifteen years old. He had been just another street kid on the dirty and dangerous streets of Leedsport. Then he had taken a cheap automatic pistol and several magazines from the cold, dead hand of an Eastside Wideboy. He had run away before the other Wideboys could grab him and take the rare and precious pistol away from him. He had gathered a half a dozen other street boys around him and armed them with knives and clubs. After that, the narrow, short street was his. The merchants paid him because he was the only one on the street with a gun. For the first time that he could remember, his belly was full and he had a warm and safe place to sleep. He had someone to share his bed, as well. He smiled at the thought of Betsy, now dead for so many years.

It hadn't lasted, of course. He'd had to shoot three men who were trying to take over his turf. The first two had only been wounded. He couldn't shoot very well because he had too little ammunition to practice. The third man he had killed. The man's large and well-armed family had sworn to avenge their fallen member. He had to flee.

He had changed his name for the first time and signed on with a mercenary company, Witt's Raiders. They had not been what he had expected. He had been sent to another planet where the Raiders were keeping order for a mining company on a hot, dry, desolate world. Their job was to keep independent prospectors from mining gems that the company thought were rightfully theirs.

He was issued an ill-fitting, shoddily made uniform, no body armor or helmet and an ancient assault rifle that usually jammed after two or three rounds. His training consisted of a five minute lecture from Corporal Hiramoto on how to operate his weapon. Luckily, the prospectors they hunted had even worse weapons.

When sober, Hiramoto was a good soldier. So, unlike his comrades who drank up most of their pay, he bought alcohol for Corporal Hiramoto in exchange for help in maintaining his weapon. After a week, he could usually count on his rifle firing through an entire clip without jamming. Usually. Upgrading his rifle had meant that he'd had to steal parts from the weapons of the other mercenaries, but they were too drunk usually to notice.

He continued buying alcohol for Hiramoto in exchange for training. Although he was functionally illiterate, he managed to plow through a manual on military tactics that the corporal had. After two years his military skills, and his reading, had improved. He took his discharge and was sent back to Leedsport.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

He took a job as a bouncer in a gambling den on the other side of the planet and pondered his next move. He knew by now that his future lay with using guns. However, he had the bad luck to beat up a young man who was drunk and had lost heavily at the tables. He had attacked the dealer, screaming that she had cheated him. The young man's father, a powerful local politician, wanted satisfaction. Once again, he changed his name and enlisted with a mercenary company. This time he picked one that was a good, mid -level force.

If you lived, you learned, and if you learned, you lived. In twenty years, he had become an excellent soldier, but one who had no desire to be a leader of any sort. He had never allowed himself to be promoted beyond lance corporal. He realized he was what people called an adrenaline junkie. He loved the high that risking his life gave him.

His reverie was interrupted by Corporal Thupt tapping his shoulder. Thupt was the leader of RT Asp and in charge of his own four-man team and three other soldiers with Bennett. "Bennett, something's wrong."

"What?" Bennett asked, looking around.

"It's past dawn. They should have the slaves out in the fields by now. Do you think they've seen something?"

Bennett looked through the telescopic sight of his rifle. He centered his aim on the guard in the tower overlooking the slave quarters. He shook his head. "The guard in the tower is just sitting there, all fat, dumb and happy. If they suspected anything, he'd be in cover."

It was another hour before they figured out what was going on.

"Oh, shit." Thupt whispered. "It's a damned punishment parade. They're bring all of the slaves out to see someone get punished. That's why the slaves weren't out at dawn. The humans wanted to witness the punishment and they didn't want to get up at dawn."

There were at least twenty humans watching the proceedings.

They watched as the slaves were herded together in front of a tall pole. Then a single Tarkai was led out and tied to the pole. A muscular human with his long blond hair in a pigtail down his back began whipping the Tarkai. The slave tried to be brave and not scream, but soon his screams were heard on the small hill where Thupt and his team were hidden. When the whipping was done, the Tarkai was cut loose and left at the base of the pole.

Bennett counted. The big man had given the slave fifty lashes. "If that bastard with the whip is in sight, leave him to me. Understand?"

"It's only twelve minutes to 0800." Thupt whispered.

Bennett grinned.

At 0800, the blond was standing staring at the forest, not three hundred yards from Bennet. His bullet struck the big man just below the Adam's apple, severing his spinal cord and killing him before he hit the ground.

Bennett and the rest of the team fired one magazine and ran. There was no pursuit.

Private Shilka was both proud of being chosen for the mission and worried that he could not accomplish it. He was the first of the new Tarkai recruits to be promoted from Recruit to Private.

His parents had worked for the Rodgers' family when they were young. Martha Rodgers had found them bright and eager to learn. Both had learned to read and write the human language and Martha had had Shilka's mother assist her in caring for the sick and injured Tarkai who came needing assistance.

When the evil men had come to kill the Rodgers' and their friends, Shilka's parents had grabbed their school books and all the books they could gather up and ran for their home village. Once there, they continued to read and to try to understand what the humans had tried to teach them. The village elders could not see why cleaning one's hands with alcohol would prevent women from dying after childbirth, but it worked, so no one complained.

Shilka's father continued to teach young Tarkai to read and write in the human's language and teach them as much of human knowledge as he could. Shilka was one of the few boys in his village who could read and write. This helped when Captain Castle and his troops arrived. Other Recruits had to have the working of weapons, radios, night vision devices and other technology explained to them. Shilka was one of the few who could read the manuals by himself, only having to have certain words explained to him. His instructors never had to explain the same word twice.

Now he was crawling in the dark night towards the plantation of Boss Henry, agreed by all to be one of the most violent of the slavers. He crawled very carefully, but in fact he could almost have strolled into the plantation, security was so lax. He reached the Golden Life leaves processing plant and used his excellent senses to find if anyone was about. No one was.

He crawled to the door and opened it. He carefully went inside. No one was there and the plant was shut down for the night. Quickly identifying the fusion plant by the descriptions he'd read in the books Castle had shown him, he slid under the fusion plant and attached a bomb with five pounds of plastic explosives to the underside where no one would see it unless they also crawled under the plant. He started the timer and watched as it began winding down to 0800 that morning.

He quickly left the plant and crawled a few hundred yards to the forest. There he met a squad that was waiting in case something went wrong and he needed covering fire. They would be miles away by 0800.

Karl Langenfeld arrived at the processing plant before dawn. As usual, he was in a foul mood. As he got the processing machinery running, he bitched to himself under his breath. "God damned fat assed Henry, too damned cheap to hire a helper for me. The dumb fuck has no idea how complex this system is. "Use the slaves.", he says. Like the damned furbutts aren't too dumb and too lazy to be any help. And the guards are even dumber. He's got kinfolk all over his damned house that have at least half a brain, but no, they're too damned good to get their hands dirty actually working."

As the slaves brought in bales of leaves to be processed, Langenfeld would hit them with a length of knotted rope to hurry them along. "Move your sorry asses." He yelled.

At exactly 0800, as attacks were made on fourteen more plantations, the bomb under the fusion plant blew. The fusion pod breached and exploded. Langenfeld and fifteen slaves were vaporized instantly. Most of the guards and all of the slaves were in the fields, but two guards and six slaves were injured. The warehouses for the Golden Life leaves and for the processed product caught on fire and burned to the ground. The slave pens were destroyed, although no one was in them, as was the guards' barracks. Three guards from the night shift were killed and one injured. The main house was damaged and Boss Henry's niece was decapitated by flying debris. Her younger brother, standing next to her lost an arm.

It took eight months to arrange for a bank loan for a new processing plant, then to send an order to the factory on New Hanover. Then the plant had to be manufactured and sent by freighter to Tark. Boss Henry also lost nearly a full season's worth of Golden Life product and leaves. What he was able to harvest had to be sold as raw leaves at a much discounted price. Henry also hired more guards and fortified his plantation. One small bomb had changed the plantation from a very profitable one to one on the very knife edge of bankruptcy.

Castle's troops suffered no casualties.

Castle and his intelligence staff spent the rest of the day and into the night listening to the radio traffic between the plantations. For many hours, there were so many people trying to talk on a limited number of channels that they couldn't make out much except that there was a lot of panic, especially as news, usually exaggerated as so often happened, of the damage done to the Henry plantation spread. But, as the radio traffic thinned out, Castle could discern a couple of trends in the conversations.

One, the plantation owners closest to the great forests, where the Tarkai dwelled, and from which they could most easily attack, were the most frightened. They wanted all of the plantation owners to band together to provide protection. The owners of the plantations away from the perimeter of the valley, who felt much safer, did not feel that they had an obligation to help their more endangered neighbors.

Secondly, what discussions there were almost all concerned with defensive preparations and not offensive. That suited Castle just fine. If all four hundred plantations could be convinced to huddle down in their own separate little defensive forts, they could be defeated in detail, one at a time.

Castle had an idea. "Ask Private Bennett to come here."

Bennett showed up quickly. "Private Bennett reporting, sir."

"Bennett, I have an idea that I think a man like you will just love." As Castle began to explain his plan, Bennett began to smile. By the end of the short briefing he was smiling hugely.

Three nights later, Bennett and two Tarkai were going down Thendabor Creek, a tributary of the Kambala River that ran through the valley. The creek was fast flowing for most of its distance and filled with rocks. Bennett was glad he had the two Tarkai to do the rowing. A human, even with first class night vision goggles would have ended in the water a hundred times. The Tarkai could not only see what was ahead of them, but they could hear the water breaking around rocks ahead and could even smell the differences in the vegetation in and around the water.

The creek began to widen out and the rushing water became slow. The banks, which had been steep were now hardly visible, the stream edging off into a broad wetland. An hour before dawn, the Tarkai stopped in the middle of what was now a swamp and pulled their boat onto a small island that was barely above the water level, but covered with tall, lush vegetation. It was unlikely that anyone would come out into the swamp, but if they did Bennett and his two companions would be hidden from view unless someone actually stepped on them.

The two Tarkai turned their boat over so they could rest under it, being first careful to cover the boat with leaves and other vegetation. Castle had told Bennett that the boat resembled a birch bark canoe, not used since pre-spaceflight days on Earth. Bennett didn't really care as long as the boat and the two Tarkai got him where he needed to go.

After a small breakfast, the three settled down to sleep. They woke before sunset, but remained perfectly still. The Tarkai had long experience as hunters and knew how to remain perfectly still. Bennett's long years as a soldier allowed him to do the same.

Once it was dark, they got back in the canoe and paddled to the Kambala River and went downstream. They stopped at a wooded island and Bennett changed into the stealth suit. He checked his weapon and his other gear and then was paddled to the west bank of the river. Once there, he headed for his target. Although he moved carefully and was almost invisible to the naked eye, he almost laughed at the lack of security anywhere other than the immediate area of the plantations.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

At last he was at his destination, the plantation belonging to Jack and Dick Coonan. Of all of the plantation owners on Tark they were the most hated, at least by the other plantation owners. While the other owners were a rough and ready crew, the Coonan brothers were hardened killers and they didn't care who knew it. While most owners hired the kind of hired muscle for their guards that could be found in any low rent spaceport bar, Coonans' guards were a cut or two above that. Not on the same level as veteran soldiers, Bennett thought to himself, but better than most of the bottom feeders on the planet.

The Coonan brothers had taken slaves from other plantations and insisted they were their own. They had sent their slaves to cut Golden Life leaves on other plantations in the night, and then denied any involvement. A few people had threatened the Coonans, and were later found mysteriously dead. No one threatened them after that.

Bennett found the place he had selected for his sniper's post from orbital images. He removed his 8.5 mm sniper rifle from its water proof case and carefully checked it, and most importantly its sights. All was ready. He looked through the sight and smiled. There, over 1500 meters away and below him, was the office of the Coonan brothers. He could easily see both of them through the large window. Luck was with him. Jack was standing facing away from him talking to Dick, only a yard away. He quickly checked temperature, wind velocity and direction and a host of other factors. The computerized rifle compensated for them and he was presented with a perfect sight picture. He squeezed the trigger and both men fell. He worked the action and saw that Dick was moving slowly on the floor towards the door. He fired a second time, striking Dick in the head.

He quickly put his rifle away and ran for the river. Behind him all hell was breaking loose. Searchlights came on and flares were shot in the air. The guards ran from their barracks looking for their attacker. One guard thought he saw movement to the south and loosed a whole clip from his assault rifle at a tree moving in the breeze. The other guards also opened fire. In the confusion they began shooting at each other.

The noise from the Coonan plantation was followed by a radio warning from one of the Coonan guards that they were under attack which put all of the plantations in the area on high alert. It didn't take long for jumpy guards to begin firing at non-existent foes in the dark.

As the Tarkai paddled rapidly to the south and safety, Bennett saw that two plantations, their buildings not 400 yards apart, were firing at each other. He could briefly see and hear firefights all along the river and well inland. Bennett's mission had gone better than he'd ever imagined it would.

By the time Bennett got back to headquarters, everyone was gathered around the radios, listening in on the frequencies that the plantation owners used. It was pure pandemonium. Everyone thought they were either under attack, or soon would be. Every plantation guard seemed the think it was his duty to shoot at anything that moved, or only appeared to move, adding to the confusion. The plantation owners did nothing to calm matters, as they mainly were on the radios loudly demanding help from neighboring plantations, claiming they were on the verge of being overrun.

By dawn, things had calmed down a bit, but not much. The wild gunfights had left a dozen people dead and dozens wounded. The wounded included not just gunshot wounds, but people injured while diving for cover, two women who attacked each other in the dark, each convinced that the other was a well-armed Tarkai commando come to kill everyone, but the best was a plantation owner who'd been in bed with his two mistresses and had been seriously bitten where no man wants to be bitten. Frightened by the gunfire, the two women had both bitten down hard.

After dawn, reports began coming in from the recon teams around the valley. They reported the slaves had been put to work digging entrenchments, filling sandbags and cutting back brush and trees to provide better fields of fire. The plantations were also demanding that the Geiser Company store order barbed wire, more sandbags, land mines, more ammunition, weapons and recruit more guards. No one seemed to be thinking of taking the offensive. Each plantation was sure that they'd fought off a force of at least a platoon in strength or possibly even a company. Castle and his people laughed. That would mean there was a division sized force of Tarkai in the forests.

Castle looked over the reports that were coming in. "The best part is that none of them really have any idea of how to properly fortify a place. From the reports, the trenches are too shallow, and too wide and have no overhead cover. Our mortars can turn them into death traps."

"The sandbags won't be much help, either, sir." Lieutenant Corroon said. "They're using them to block up windows and some doors, but they don't realize that our machine gun bullets will go right through most of their walls. If we can get close enough, even the assault rifle and the Type 71 carbine fire will go through the walls."

"More good news, sir." One of the communication NCOs said. "The _Pink Zephyr_ just called in. They're just at the edge of the solar system. They'll be landing in three days."

Castle and his troops and a horde of Tarkai porters were at the landing site on the night of the landing. The _Pink Zephyr_ set down amidst the trees and everyone moved towards her. The first thing Castle saw departing was a group of Tarkai in camouflage uniforms.

One of them approached him and saluted. "Warrant Officer Chendoola, late of the Connaught Rangers scout platoon, sir. I've brought twenty-seven Tarkai to join you."

Castle returned the salute. "I'm always glad to see anyone from the Devil's Own, but how did you know that I'm here?"

Chendoola smiled. "Oh, the news has gotten around the various Tarkai communities among the stars, sir. I think you'll be getting more recruits soon. And well-trained recruits at that. By the way, Colonel Tracy sends his compliments, sir, and he allowed us to take a few things with us after we overran a rebel force on Guadalupe. Come take a look, sir."

Castle followed the warrant officer inside the _Pink Zephyr_, expecting to find, perhaps, some extra assault rifles. He was amazed at the arsenal he saw.

"We brought you twenty cases of Type 71 carbines, sir, along with five hundred thousand rounds of ammo and fifty brand new assault rifles. We also have three medium machine guns and one 15mm heavy machine gun. And we brought you another 76mm recoilless rifle, with three hundred rounds of ammunition, sir."

"Colonel Tracy _gave_ you all of this?" Castle asked, not quite believing it.

"Yes, sir. He says it's just good business to keep the Tarkai communities sweet when the recruiting sergeants come calling."

Castle had no doubt that something like this would keep all the Tarkai there were quite sweet, but he also wondered if something that he had vaguely thought about was actually happening. "All right, Mr. Chendoola, disembark your people. We have porters to take the weapons to the various hides we've set up, although we now have far more weapons than I'd thought we'd have."

Chendoola gathered his men and trotted off.

"Captain Castle?"

Castle turned to find himself facing a young man, very stylishly dressed in the latest Earth fashions. "Yes?"

"I'm Renard Francouer, of Horthy and Badoglio, attorneys-at-law. I have the documents you asked us to have drawn up, sir. All we need is your signature on these, and a DNA sample for authenticity. Would you care to examine them?"

Castle took the proffered papers and checked them. They were exactly what he had asked for, but all written in perfect legalese. He signed them and handed them back and had a DNA sample taken.

"You'll see that they're delivered, Mr. Francouer?"

"I've been told to personally deliver them, sir." The young man smiled. "I'll be very interested to see what the reactions will be."

"I just hope they don't shoot the messenger."

Francouer laughed. "Me too, sir. Me too." He left Castle and headed back to his quarters in the ship.

Castle turned to find Kate standing there, looking at him rather slantindicularly. "What was that all about?"

"It's a surprise."

"What's the surprise?"

"Kate! It won't be a surprise if I tell you."

"Castle, I don't like surprises."

"You'll like this one, I guarantee it."

"If I'll like it so much, why not just tell me?"

"Because I like surprises. They're fun." He said with what he hoped was a winning smile.

"Oh, so you like surprises, do you? Well, you might get one when we get back to our quarters. I feel an awful headache coming on."

"Kate! You can't do that!"

"But you like surprises, remember?"

"Can I just give you a hint?"

"My head is really starting to pound. And throb." Kate began walking away.

"Kate! Wait!"

Just then the head of the Tarkai porters came to Castle with a question about the storage of some of their equipment. Castle had to watch Kate walk away, but he knew he'd have to tell her about his surprise later.

It took longer than he had anticipated, but three days later all of the weapons, ammunition and equipment brought in by the _Pink Zephyr_ had been safely stored in small caches all over the area of the four villages that were supporting Castle. As it turned out, it was just in time.

"Sir, we may have a problem." Lt. Corroon said. "I've been listening to the radio chatter from the plantations. It's not good."

Castle headed for the radio room with Corroon right behind him. "What is it?" Castle asked.

"Some people with brains have been looking at the damage done by our raids and especially the clusterfuck that happened after Bennett's mission. They've figured out that the wrecking of the Henry plantation was one bomb planted in a fusion unit and the rest of the raids were a squad or so blasting off some rounds and then getting out of there. They also figured that most if not all the damage caused after Bennett took his shots were due to friendly fire. Some of them have figured out that there's no huge Tarkai army out in the damned trees getting ready to run over them, but just a few people with rifles. They want to do something about it."

"Who's they?" Castle asked.

"A mixed bag. Some are from the plantations on the edges of the forest, some are from the southern part of the valley, nearest to us, and the rest are kind of scattered. But they're talking about organizing a big slave raid and grabbing whatever Golden Life leaf we have."

Castle smiled. "The leaves we had are all on their way to be sold. But if they're really planning a big slave raid…" Castle stopped and walked over to the map of the valley that was hanging on the wall of the longhouse that he used as his headquarters. He looked at the map for a long time and then shook his head. "I'd really love to ambush a slave raid and shoot the hell out of them, but the first group of recruits we started with aren't as well trained as I'd like and the second group has just started training. They hardly know which end of the weapon the bullet comes out of. We'll have to retreat when they attack and maybe we can harass them when they pull back."

When Castle called the village chiefs and wisemen together to tell them of his plan, he was not surprised that no one liked it. The younger men were especially anxious to fight.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

Storr, who was probably the most vocal of the young men, spoke. "We have many guns and many brave Tarkai warriors. We can kill many, many of the slavers when they come. And when we kill them, the others will be too frightened to come here again."

As before, it was the Tarkai who had been off planet as soldiers who were most in favor of Castle's plan. Warrant Officer Chendoola spoke for them. "You have no idea of what you're talking about, young warrior. I have been out among the stars and I have fought for and against the humans. I will tell you of what I have seen." Chendoola went on to describe that there were not thousands, not tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands of trained human troops out there. Not just pure mercenary units, but units from planetary governments' regular armies that could be rented out to defray the cost of those armies. He spoke of weapons such as the young men had never seen: Tanks; Artillery; Combat aircraft; Helicopters, both armed and unarmed; Drones and robotic killers and a host of other things.

In the end it was the village chiefs that decided the issue. They were largely conservative men and had no desire to try war unless it was either inevitable or they knew they could win.

With the Golden Life leaves gone and the weapons well hidden, the only thing left to do was to move their food supplies away from the upcoming raid. Like the weapons, the food was hidden in small caches all over the area. Livestock was driven as far away as possible and hidden. Some crops were not ready to be harvested which would mean some hunger for the villagers.

Castle sent messengers to all of the villages in the area, those that had not been interested in supporting him, giving them the news and offering what help he could. Some replied favorably, some did not.

Castle and his troops studied the manner in which prior slave raids had been run. First would come aircraft, both fixed wing and rotary wing. They would drench the villages selected for the raids with bombs containing knock out gas. Then truckloads of slavers would come in, grab the unconscious Tarkai and anything of value and move on to the next village.

They key for success for Castle was to empty the villages before the attack. That reminded Castle of what someone had once said about herding cats.

"I'm sure the gods want their sanctuaries protected, and I do realize we all need places of worship…." Castle hadn't gotten through the sentence before six elderly men and two old women began asking him for help in moving all of the items held in the temples. Although Castle knew that there was nothing there that would interest the slavers, no gold, silver or precious gems, he knew they would destroy the temples just to enrage the Tarkai. His mistake had been in mentioning that to the priests and priestesses. In the end, he had been forced to allocate men to move several tons of religious objects to places of safety.

In the meantime, they kept close watch on the radio traffic the slavers were using to plan their raid. They still hadn't figured out that Castle's communications intelligence people were listening in.

As it turned out, they had plenty of time to move their food supplies and other things to safety. The arguments about the raid went on and on with some slavers refusing to get involved with anything that didn't protect their plantation first and foremost, others who wanted to attack everywhere and everyone at once, and the majority who didn't quite know what they wanted to do, but were willing to talk endlessly on the radio about it.

"Two days, sir. It looks like they're finally getting off their butts and doing something." Corroon said.

"Anything from the recon teams?" Rick asked.

"RT Mamba is on Tefelheur Mountain and has a great view of the southern plantations. They radioed that there are four airplanes and two helicopters at the Brodsky plantation now. The rest should be on their way. Other RTs have seen columns of vehicles headed south. It's on."

Rick went to find Kate. "It's time for you to go, Kate."

She shook her head. "I think I'd be better staying here with you. Let me stay, okay?"

He shook his head. "The one thing we have to do is get all the children to safety. They're our future. The future of the whole planet. The only people we have to look after the kids are some of the older girls and a few old ladies. We need someone to take charge and make it stick. That's you. You need to go now to get the kids as far away as you can. Are you packed?"

Instead of answering him, she kissed him. Hard. Then she was off.

Columns of adults left just after Kate and the children did, carrying what they hoped was enough food to last through the raid. As each column went out, they split into smaller and smaller columns so even if the slavers found one column, they wouldn't catch that many people. The rearguard of each column was a small group of armed Tarkai. The slavers would expect some resistance and would get suspicious if there was none.

The only people left near the villages were some of Castle's people who were equipped with gas masks who'd keep Castle informed as to the progress of the raid.

Kate led the children along a forest trail heading south and then west. In one arm she carried an infant Tarkai whose mother was busy with her four older children. For some reason a small girl had attached herself to Kate and held her hand as they walked along.

Timpo, the scout for their column came running back. He was too young to have joined Castle's company, but he had an old hunting rifle that had been given to him by an older relative and a wicked long knife. "Captain Beckett." He reported. "The stream is not five minutes ahead. The water is clean and fresh. The tall trees come down to the bank and their branches cover the whole stream. No aircraft will be able to see through the branches and spot the children." His tone indicated he did not number himself among the children.

"Thank you, Timpo. You've done an excellent job. I'll tell my husband of your fine work."

The young Tarkai's chest swelled with pride and he ran back to the stream.

The stream was as Timpo had described. When Kate looked up, she could hardly see any sunlight through the tangled branches above her. She motioned for the children to fill their canteens and drink water.

As Kate filled her canteen, she was approached by a group of teenage girls. They stood there giggling until one young Tarkai was pushed forward. "Captain Beckett, are you going to marry Captain Castle? You are…" The girl stopped, not sure how to approach the subject of the two humans having sex together. "You are always together." She finally said.

Kate smiled. "We are very close, and perhaps we will marry one day when things settle down on Tark. In addition, he hasn't asked me to marry him."

Several of the girls whispered among themselves and then one whispered in the first speaker's ear. "Captain Beckett, could you not ask Captain Castle to marry you?" The girl said.

"I could, but we have much to do here on Tark before we can think of such things."

The girl nodded. "Captain Castle is the chief of his own tribe now. It contains members from all four villages and even has members from other parts of Tark that are far, far away, but who have gone among the stars to be soldiers with the humans. A tribal chieftain should have a wife so that they may have children together. This is very important."

Kate nodded solemnly. "I will consider what you have said."

The girls left, still giggling.

Several miles away from the village of Thornod, Private Mally peered out of the tiny vision slit in the bunker he occupied with five other Tarkai. The bunker was well camouflaged with the entrance and firing slits covered with slabs of turf from which grew a noxious weed that would cause humans and Tarkai alike a burning rash if touched. The vision slit was the only part of the bunker not so camouflaged.

Inside the bunker were cases of ammunition and grenades, explosives, medical supplies and most importantly, a large radio. This radio was their only backup to their main radio. Also, in the bunker with Mally were five new recruits. Mally had unloaded their carbines himself to make sure that the recruits didn't start anything.

Mally saw movement just at the edge of his vision. Then five armed humans came into view. He turned to his companions and motioned for absolute silence. One recruit slid his hand towards one of the ammo pouches on his belt. Mally kicked him and glared at him. He moved his hand back.

When Mally looked out again, the humans were almost on top of the bunker. The one began walking straight towards the vision slit. Mally held his breath. Had the slit been seen?

The human stopped right in front of the vision slit and turned around. He then dropped his pants and squatted. After a moment he rose and the humans moved on.

"What do you see?" Whispered one recruit.

"Shit."

Private Mike Bennett settled back in his carefully constructed sniper's hide nearly a mile from the village. He was happy to be using his sniper rifle since the slavers already knew there was at least one in the hands of the Tarkai since the death of the Coonan brothers. He and his team didn't even have to bother with gas masks, although they had them handy. There was a stiff breeze blowing towards the village from where they were.

He looked carefully through his telescopic sight for a good target. He had been told to fire one round and one round only before moving out. Even though the slavers knew there was a very good sniper rifle out there someplace, Captain Castle didn't want any of them to know that there was a very good sniper out there as well. Too many long range shots couldn't be dismissed by the slavers as a coincidence. Bennett didn't like being limited, but he obeyed orders.

He saw one man taking an axe to one of the Tarkai temples and thought about dropping him. Then he noticed a man walking around and yelling at all the others. The others were paying attention to him, so he most likely was some sort of leader. Something else caught his eye. The man was wearing a jacket made out of Tarkai hide. Bennett decided that made him his target. He tracked the man as he input data into his computerized rifle. When he had a firing solution, he pulled the trigger. He saw the man spin and fall. The other slavers took cover and then one saw some kind of movement in a tree not fifty yards from them. The slaver opened fire and as soon as he did, then every slaver in sight did the same. Bennett laughed as the slavers fired hundreds of rounds of ammo into a tree.

"Everybody, we're moving. Don't let any of them see you or I'll kick your ass." The dozen Tarkai who had been behind him moved out.

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

They trotted through the forest towards the dirt track that the slavers had used to get their vehicles to the Tarkai villages. They stopped within the tree line and looked out at the dirt track. As they had suspected, the slavers had had to bridge a small stream with a temporary wooden bridge.

Bennett got on his radio and got good news. "The slavers are headed east towards Mugwump's village and there's no one headed this way. You know what to do, so get to it." Bennett led the Tarkai as they ran to the bridge.

They did not destroy the bridge outright. That would have just stopped the slavers as they returned and caused them to drive slowly through the shallow stream or use rocks to create another bridge. Instead, Bennett's team cut away the supports holding the bridge up and even cut partly through the large beams holding up the roadway of the bridge itself. Then they ran back to the forest and waited.

They waited until well after dark. Then they heard the roar of engines and saw headlights coming towards them. The first truck that tried to cross the bridge put too much weight on it and the bridge collapsed. The truck fell no more than three feet into the river, but slammed to a halt, throwing the truck onto its side. The truck immediately behind it crashed into the back of that truck. The following trucks managed to skid to halts.

As the chaos mounted, Bennett's team fired into the mass of men and then retreated. There was no pursuit.

The next morning, Castle sat with his arm around Kate as they both drank coffee and listened to the slavers bitch and whine over the radio. They had captured a few slaves, gotten some Golden Life leaves, and done a lot of damage. In return, they had lost expensive and hard to replace vehicles, they had shot off a lot of ammunition with nothing to show in return, and had suffered eleven dead and over twenty wounded.

Half of the slavers were arguing that since the Tarkai had run, they should keep pushing them to the south and away from the valuable plantations.

The other half disagreed. "Chase them to the south? How fucking far south do you think they'd run? I'll tell you how far. All the damned way to the south pole."

"They can't run that far. There are tribes to the south all the way to your damned south pole. They'll fight the local furbutts for sure. And where would we get more slaves?"

The yelling went on for hours.

"Captain, we have a delegation from the other tribes coming in. They want to talk."

"Who are they?" Castle asked.

"It's old Mugwump and his pals. The ones who wanted nothing to do with us when we got here. Since they got raided, I think they're a little more willing to listen to reason."

As Castle found out, old Mugwump wasn't that good at listening to reason. He had a lot of demands to be made that would benefit his village and those allied with him, and offered precious little in return. Castle was firm that the other villages would join the Tarkai Anti-Slavery Alliance and accept him as their supreme commander in the same manner as the other villages. They wouldn't get any special privileges. Old Mugwump was stubborn, but as the discussions went on, he began to lose allies. He eventually had to agree with Castle.

As they say, this was good news and bad news. They had more than doubled their number of recruits, but they lacked the weapons and equipment for them. But Castle had an idea.

"What the French did back in their revolution." He said brightly.

"They had a revolution?" Kate asked. "When?"

"Back before spaceflight, love. Eighteen hundred and something, I think. Anyway, they had an army but when the revolution broke out they had all kinds of untrained volunteers and conscripts ready to fight to defend the revolution. But how would they train them? The answer, demi-brigades."."

"Ah." Said Kate, sarcastically. "Of course."

"No, they broke up their regular army regiments into separate battalions and paired them with a battalion of untrained troops. The regulars taught the rookies how to fight."

"And it worked?"

"They were at war at the time, so a lot of people got killed before everyone was on the same page, so to speak, but the revolution survived."

Kate nodded. "At least we have some time. The last raid was such a fiasco that they'll be a while getting another one under way. The slavers are still arguing about whose fault it is that things went wrong." Kate smiled. "They don't know yet that it was Rick Castle's fault that things went so wrong."

He smiled back. "Flattery will get you everywhere with me."

"Will it get you in bed with me?"

He didn't need to say a word.

Eventually Castle's plan worked. At first, the trained recruits objected to giving up their weapons and equipment half of the time so that what they thought of as Johnny Come Latelies could be trained. The brand-new recruits, many of whom had had their villages raided objected to not being able to train full time.

The problem was solved in a manner that Castle had not expected.

A soldier came running up to Rick and Kate. "Captain Castle, you're need at HQ. There's an incoming message from the _Pink Zephyr_."

Castle frowned as he started towards his HQ with Kate right with him.

"What is it, lover?" She asked.

"The _Pink Zephyr_ shouldn't be here for another two or three months. Something must be wrong."

"Maybe they just couldn't find a cargo for other places? The _Pink Zephyr_ doesn't really have a regular route. They go where they can find work."

When they go to the headquarters, the recorded message from the _Pink Zephyr_ was not particularly helpful. Captain Coleman said that her ship was inbound and that she'd have to take a roundabout course to get to Castle. She said that the radar at the Tark spaceport was now operational 24/7 so she didn't want to get picked up on radar. She'd be on the ground in five days at the usual place.

Five days later, Rick and Kate, as well as about a thousand Tarkai were watching as the _Pink Zephyr_ slid through the atmosphere and landed. The cargo hatches opened and very much to Castle's surprise, a long line of uniformed and armed Tarkai began to march out.

One of them headed for Castle at a trot, stopped and saluted. "Captain Zendai reporting, sir. I've brought one hundred and seventeen Tarkai soldiers with me. Everyone of them is a veteran and every one is well armed and equipped. And we're all ready to fight for Free Tarkai, sir."

It took Rick a second or two to process this. "I'm certainly glad to see you and your men, Captain. However, this is very unexpected. How did you learn about this?"

Zendai smiled. "You're famous, sir. There aren't a lot of Tarkai out among the stars, but what there are have heard all about you. They've been pushing to get those of us in the military to come to Tark to fight. They've also been collecting money to buy weapons and equipment. It's not just Tarkai that have been contributing, but a lot of humans as well." He took out a pad and handed it to Castle. "This is what we've brought for you this time, sir."

Castle's eyes widened as he saw the list of weapons, ammunition and equipment that the _Pink Zephyr_ had brought. He could equip every volunteer he had and then some. He turned to Kate. "Babe, please get more porters and get the weapons and whatnot off the ship and distributed. I want to go talk to Captain Coleman."

Kate smiled. "One thing, lover. Given the size of your new force, you should be a lieutenant colonel, at least. By an amazing coincidence, I've been learning embroidery from the Tarkai ladies and I've embroidered some nice rank insignia for you. Can we have a little ceremony after we unload the ship?"

"Absolutely." Castle said.

"I'll give you my personal congratulations after that. Okay?"

Rick could just nod as Kate walked away, wiggling her ass.

He found Coleman in her ship, telling the porters what to take first. She smiled when she saw Castle. "Captain Castle! Good to see you. Your friends out there are making me rich. I have to go back and pick up another load of volunteers and weapons to deliver here. I should be back in a month or so. In the meantime, I have a message I was told to deliver to you, in person, and with no one else around. Come back to my office, okay?"

Castle followed her through the ship to her office. She handed him a pad. He saw that the pad would check his DNA before releasing the message. When He read the message, he smiled. He had hoped that something like this would happen, but he hadn't expected it so soon.

"I was told there'd probably be a reply." Coleman said.

Castle nodded and took out his own pad. He typed a reply, encrypted it and then transferred the message to the pad Coleman had. "If you could please return this?"

She nodded. "With pleasure. I have a contract now to supply you, courtesy of the Free Tark movement. I've been able to pay off some old debts, and get a few things fixed on the old girl. If I can get the new government of Tark to let my transport the Golden Life product, I can freaking retire in a few years."

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, Captain Coleman. We haven't won the war, yet."

"You will. Oh, are you still not sleeping with the brunette?"

Castle just laughed and left.

With his new recruits from off-planet, and his new arms and equipment, Castle organized his command as a battalion. Headquarters and headquarters company, commanded by the newly promoted Captain Kate Beckett contained the usual staff functions: Personnel and administration; Intelligence; Operations; Logistics; and communication. The company also had a sniper platoon, an engineer platoon and a scout platoon. The very best Tarkai scouts were in the latter platoon.

There were three rifle companies, C Company, F Company and H Company. It was hoped that using non-consecutive letters might convince their enemies that there were more companies than actually existed. C Company contained most, but not all of the Tarkai and humans that had initially come to Tark with Castle. He had plans for that company.

Lastly was the Weapons Company. Since their weapons were more complex and took longer to master than infantry weapons, more experienced troops were assigned there.

But, all good things come to an end.

Castle, Kate and his officers sat in the headquarters longhouse and listened to the radio broadcasts from virtually all of the plantation owners. So many were on the air that they were all talking over each other, making it very difficult to tell what was being said.

"It's hard to tell, "Castle said, "but from the sound of it, Geiser's told everyone about the letter I sent to them through my lawyers."

"What the hell did you say in that letter?" Asked Lieutenant O'Hara, now the executive officer of the weapons company.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

"I told Geiser that my parents did not sell the concession for Tark to Demming, but that Demming murdered all the rest of my family. I said that as the only living descendent of Jackson and Martha Rodgers, I was now the legal owner of the concession. I further said that I considered all of the sales and leases signed by Demming to be illegal and totally invalid. I asked the Geiser Company to recognize my legal position. I also said the Tarkai were not employees of the plantation owners, but slaves. I advised them that my command had joined the Tark Anti-Slavery Alliance to end slavery on Tark."

"Every plantation sale or lease was financed through the Geiser Bank." Kate said. "This whole planet is basically a monopoly for Geiser Corporation. Losing all of this might be enough to tip Geiser into bankruptcy. Even if it didn't, they'd take a hell of financial hit."

"It does sound like you've managed to unite all of the plantation owners against you, Colonel." O'Hara said with a smile. "They'll be coming for us. You have a plan, sir?"

Castle nodded. "I had intended to retreat as far as we could to draw them after us and then hit their supply lines. Then when they had to retreat, we'd chase 'em. Chase 'em good. But given our strength, I think we'll fight them where we are. "He walked to the map and looked at it. "I think we need to build a good, big dam right about here." He tapped the map.

Everyone gathered around the map. Then both Lieutenant O'Hara and Captain Corroon started laughing.

"Oh, that is nasty, sir." Corroon said, nodding his head. "Oh, so very nasty."

The other officers began laughing as well.

"Okay, people." Castle said. "I'd guess we have a week, maybe less, before the slavers start moving south. We need to get as many civilian Tarkai as we need busy on the dam. Other civilians need to get busy digging entrenchments on the east road and stockpiling weapons, ammo, food and everything else we'll need. Company commanders, get your companies ready. We'll have a staff meeting tonight to start planning."

Everyone hurried off except Kate. She was still looking at the map. "I'm sure you have something brilliant planned, but I just don't see it."

Rick walked over to her. "The slavers aren't really soldiers, and aren't very imaginative. So far, they really haven't had to be either. When they raid to the south, they come by way of two dirt roads, called the east road, here, and the west road, here. Both are dry except in the middle of the rainy season and they go through fairly open country. The forest comes down to about three or four hundred yards from each road, sometimes further."

Kate nodded. "Okay. So why a dam?"

"We build a dam here and the water backs up. With the spring snow melt in the mountains, the west road will be blocked by the water, here. Now, they could build a bridge across the water, or they could go upstream and destroy the dam. Both would take time and allow us to move our forces ahead of them and set up an ambush. But, I'm betting that their aircraft will spot the blockage on the west road and they'll take the east road. The ground is higher there and the ford will still be useable for their trucks and other vehicles. We'll set our ambush here and shoot up the head and tail of the convoy, blocking the road in both directions. If they move off the road to the west, that's pretty boggy in the best of times and it'll be worse then. If they move to the east, they'll be headed straight into our guns. I'm betting that when we spring the ambush, most of the trucks and troops will automatically head to the west, away from the ambush."

Kate kissed him. "That's nasty." She whispered. "But not as nasty as I'm going to be in bed tonight."

As it happened, it took eleven days for the slavers' attack to get under way. First, aircraft flew over they area of the villages and the land in between. The paid special attention to the two places where the roads were flooded. They also flew over the villages, but the trees were too thick to be able to see that the villages were deserted. Castle had sent all extraneous personnel to the south. The only civilian Tarkai that were left were those young men chosen to be porters for the weapons and ammo.

Another day went by before the large convoy of vehicles started moving. As Castle had suspected, they were moving by way of the east road. The slavers still had no notion of communications security and Castle knew he was facing a force of some fifteen hundred men, nearly twice the strength of his own force. But, his men were better trained, better armed, better led and had the advantage of fighting from prepared defensive positions.

One company was deployed where they would strike the head of the convoy. A series of command detonated mines would stop the front of the convoy. The second company was where they hoped the tail end of the convoy would be. A series of command detonated mines was planted well behind that point so that the road behind the tail end of the convoy could be cratered and made impassable to vehicles. The third line company was held as a reserve and the weapons company was distributed between the two front line companies.

All was in readiness.

The start of the ambush went well enough. The mines detonated at the front of the slavers' convoy destroyed three trucks outright and caused four more to slam into the wreckage and overturn. The rest of the vehicles stopped as fast as they could, and the result was chaos. The slavers had expected the Tarkai to retreat as they had before and no one had planned for an attack. It was quickly every man for himself, or occasionally every small group for themselves.

There had been two fixed wing aircraft flying low over the convoy when the ambush was sprung. Both were small, single engine aircraft carrying a pilot and a second person to throw out the knock out gas bombs. The first plane was hit by several heavy machine gun bullets. The 15mm slugs shredded the engine, stopping it. The pilot tried to find a place to land, but crashed into a large tree. The plane was destroyed, and both crew killed. The pilot of the second plane was killed by the heavy slugs and the other crewmember severely wounded. The plane began a slow roll and then dove nose first into the ground.

A small helicopter over the rear of the convoy was engaged by other machine guns and damaged. However, the pilot was able to fly in back to the nearest plantation where it was eventually repaired.

Two other airplanes were too far away from the ambush to be engaged by the Tarkai. They climbed as high as they could and contributed nothing to the fight except for dropping some very poorly aimed knock out gas bombs that missed both sides.

The story at the rear of the convoy was different. It had been intended that the mines would be detonated after the tail end of the convoy had passed, blocking the road behind them. The convoy was so strung out that when the mines were detonated at the front of the convoy, there were twenty trucks that hadn't yet reached the area of the mines. Seeing no other choice, the mines were detonated. The last truck in the convoy promptly reversed back down the road and easily escaped. Some vehicles tried to back down the road and some tried to turn around, all while under fire from Castle's troops. Very few trucks or people escaped from the end of the convoy.

Lieutenant O'Hara was commanding the recoilless rifles, bringing destruction down on the targets he saw as most dangerous. "Gun number one!" He bellowed. "Right in front of you, that truck has some kind of armor plating. Range four hundred yards. Check for the back blast. Let them have it." To his dismay, the shell exploded twenty yards in front of the armored truck, spattering it with shrapnel, but doing no serious damage. "Raise your sights a hair and keep at it." He turned his attention to gun number two whose crew was methodically working its way down the convoy, blasting truck after truck.

"Gun number two! There's a machine gun set up five trucks up from your last target. Hit that next." He smiled as he watched the truck explode and the machine gun and its crew go flying,

Safe from direct fire, behind a small ridge, Captain Popho, the weapons company commander, had his mortars dropping shells on the stalled convoy. He couldn't see his targets, but the forward observers told him they were chopping up the slavers. "More shells! More shells!" He screamed at the porters who promptly brought more shells to the mortars.

One mortar shell landed in a truck that was carrying spare ammunition. There was a colossal explosion and parts of the truck and shrapnel from the ammo went flying. Two Tarkai were killed by the explosion and seven wounded. Far more slavers died.

The convoy's defense began to collapse. Some ran back up the road towards the supposed safety of the plantations. They had to pass through a hail of fire from rifles, grenade launchers and machine guns. Few survived.

Some ran directly away from the ambushers, towards the water that had backed up from the dam. Although the water was quite shallow, anyone who was badly wounded could easily drown.

Many threw down their weapons and raised their hands in surrender. It took Castle and his officers and NCOs some time to get the troops to stop firing, but eventually he took the surviving slavers prisoner.

Castle had the prisoners disarmed and stripped of any militarily useful equipment. He then had his troops go over the wreckage of the convoy for any weapons, ammo or equipment that could be salvaged. Then he addressed the prisoners.

"I don't have the facilities to hold you as prisoners, but I'm not going to kill you as some of my men wish. I'm going to let you leave. If you'll look around at your convoy and at your friends, both living and dead, you'll see why I don't think you're any real danger to me. If you come after me again, I might not be so merciful and you might not be so lucky. The walking wounded will be helped by the unwounded. My men are making stretchers for the wounded that can't walk. You'll carry them back. Are there any medics here?" A half a dozen men shuffled forward. "There are some badly wounded here, so I'm letting you have four trucks to take them back. For God's sake, drive slowly. Bouncing on this dirt road will kill them."

Castle was approached by Lieutenant O'Hara. "Colonel, come and look at what we found." O'Hara led him down a line of vehicles, some destroyed, some damaged and some just abandoned. "Aren't they beauties, sir?"

The "beauties" were two unusual trucks. Instead of having wheels, they were fully tracked. But, they had a truck-like cab and a flat bed in back. The bed was covered by a canvas top.

O'Hara jumped into the cab of one and started the engine. "I've checked them both out, sir. There are a couple of bullet holes in the metalwork and one or two in the top, but mechanically they're just fine. They're just the thing for my idea. What do you say, sir? Can I give it a try?"

Castle thought for a minute and then nodded. "Okay, but you get one recoilless rifle and the one 15mm machine gun. And if you run into any kind of trouble, get hell out. I've got too much on my mind to have to go get you out of trouble. Understand?"

"Perfectly, sir." O'Hara said with a smile.

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

O'Hara quickly got the teams he previously chosen together and loaded the weapons and ammo into the trucks. Then, with only humans visible, and the Tarkai hidden under the canvas tops, they roared down the road towards the plantations.

Once they reached the southern most plantations, they headed for the Kambala River. Roads ran along both banks of the river. Not paved roads, but they were graveled and better than the dirt tracks found elsewhere. Few people were on the roads and those that were paid little attention to what appeared to be just more peaceful travelers on the road.

After twenty miles, they stopped in front of what appeared to be a very prosperous plantation house and turned around. O'Hara's men pulled down the canvas top and the top's framework. O'Hara aimed the recoilless rifle at the plantation house and put an explosive round through the front door. A second round went through an upper window where they hoped the plantation owner had his office. A burst of 15mm machine gun fire followed and then the two trucks sped away to do the same to the next plantation.

There was very little return fire from the plantations. Most of the best guards had been on the raid and there had been some garbled radio transmissions indicating something bad was happening. In addition, the plantation owners were unsure if the two vehicles they saw were hostile until O'Hara and his crew opened fire. O'Hara hadn't had this much fun in years. Some people did notice a redheaded young woman in one of the trucks, laughing and waving at the plantation houses.

O'Hara got back to the ambush site as the last of the porters were loading up and headed south. He stopped in front of Castle and jumped down from the truck. "Sir, this is a great vehicle. With the tracks we can go almost anyplace. We should take it with us. We can use some vehicles in the future. How about it, Colonel?"

"I've decided to take a couple of 4x4 vehicles back with us, and a truck. We may as well take these two vehicles. We'll have to figure out some way to hide them, though. Those tracks leave a trail a blind man could follow."

O'Hara happily hid the two trucks in two different places and had dozens of Tarkai filling in the tracks the vehicles treads made and covering everything with leaves. He even took the spare track pieces off and used them to make phony tracks going to a lake. If anyone followed the false tracks, they'd think the trucks had somehow been sunk.

Castle decided to put more pressure on the slavers. He sent our squads armed with recoilless rifles, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, and sometimes just rifles and grenade launchers to stage hit and run attacks on plantations nearest the forest. The slavers seemed to be in a purely defensive mode. Rarely were any of the squads counter-attacked, and when one the squads began retreating, they were never followed very far.

There was one plantation that Castle wanted to hit very badly. He planned to use his best company, C Company, and the bulk of his weapons company for the attack. He had had Demming's plantation under surveillance for some time, using his very best reconnaissance troops. Demming had done a better job of fortifying his plantation than most. He had planted a mine field around his house and around the guards' barracks. However, if anyone wanted to leave the property, there were three areas clear of mines. He also had coils of razor wire around the buildings. And he had guards on patrol 24/7 and two guard towers with searchlights. It would not be enough.

It was a moonless night when the attack began, not that anyone on the Demming plantation noticed the start. Tarkai soldiers wearing stealth suits began the attack by using engineering tape to mark the paths through the minefield. The tape would be visible to soldiers wearing night vision goggles but not to Demming's guards.

Then they pushed Bangalore torpedoes, metal pipes filled with explosives, under the coils of razor wire. Other soldiers prepared to shoot "snakes", hoses filled with explosives, onto the edges of the minefield. The snakes' explosion would set off more mines, widening the cleared path. When all was set, the soldiers retreated back into the cover of the woods.

"We're all ready, sir. Care to do the honors?" The soldier held out the transmitter that would fire the Bangalore torpedoes. Castle took it and thought for a moment at how long he had waited for this moment. He felt Kate's arm slip around his waist. He turned to her. "Do you want to push the button with me?"

Kate shook her head. "You should do it."

He took a deep breath and pushed the button, firing the torpedoes. The blast was successful. As soon as they were fired, the snakes were shot into the minefield and fired, dozens of mines went off in sympathetic explosions. Every weapon available opened fire, everything from recoilless rifles to assault rifles, blanketing the house and guards' barracks with fire. The guard towers were destroyed with heavy machine gun fire and grenades.

After thirty seconds, red flares arched into the air, signaling the start of the ground attack. Heavy weapons fire ceased and soldiers ran out of the forest and through the gaps in the minefield. The main target was the guards' barracks. Grenades were thrown or shot through the blasted out windows and doors of the barracks. A squad of soldiers armed with machine guns and wearing gas masks pushed their way into the barracks and soldiers outside threw asphyxiating gas grenades into the barracks. As the guards gasped for breath, they were cut down. None survived.

Castle had wanted to lead the assault on the plantation house, which Kate and all of his officers refused to let him consider. While Kate's idea of chaining him to their bed had a certain attraction to him, he agreed that he would command the attack from a safe place in the rear.

As he saw the first assault troops enter the house after a barrage of grenades and machine gun fire, he began to edge forward. He felt a hand grab his belt. "Not so fast, soldier boy. You aren't going anywhere yet."

"You never let me have any fun, Kate." He grumped, but smiled at the same time.

"I'll show you all the fun you can handle when this is over." She whispered.

The radio broke in. "Charlie One Four to Alpha Six. Over?"

"Alpha Six Actual to Charlie One Four. What do you have?"

"Alpha Six Actual, this is Charlie One Four. The house is clear, from the basement to the attic. The barracks and everyplace else is clear. Over."

"Charlie One Four this is Alpha Six Actual. I'm coming in. Alpha Six Actual, over and out."

Although they had declared the house cleared, Castle's troops surrounded him with a phalanx of bayonetted rifles as he walked into the house. The house itself was wrecked. Clearing a building was an art that had been perfected over many centuries. First, kick in or blow in a door. Next, throw a couple of grenades into the room. Then fire bursts of automatic weapons fire into the room, enter the room and shoot anyone inside. Go to the next room and repeat. Keep doing that, not stopping for anything, until the entire building is clear.

Castle entered the main room of the house. He could smell the battle, the stink of burned cordite, the coppery tang of spilled blood and the stench of urine and feces let lose when the dead had lost control of their bowels and bladder." "Where is he?"

"Upstairs, last room on the left, sir." Said a voice in the darkness.

Up the stairs they went and down the hall.

"Looks like the 15mm caught them in bed, sir." Someone said unnecessarily. "Got his legs shredded, but he's still alive. Sort of. The woman took some rounds that would have gotten him."

Castle looked at the man who'd slaughtered his family, now about to die. He looked smaller now to Castle. He was older and had grown fatter with age.

"Who the fuck are you?" Demming whispered.

Castle decided that conversation was useless. He raised his assault rifle and shot Demming in the head.

"Who's the woman?"

"Some hooker from the town, sir. Recon says he has them send out a new one every week or so."

He felt Kate put her hand in his, "You okay, Babe?"

"He's finally dead, but my whole family is dead still."

"You have a family." She whispered in his ear.

"Thanks. You have no idea what that means to me now."

They went back downstairs where the troops were collecting weapons and anything useful to take back with them. Kate suddenly stopped and looked down.

"What is it?" Castle asked.

"She's just a girl." Kate pointed at the tiny corpse on the floor. "A child."

"My youngest sister was eight when Demming and his family raped and murdered her."

"She wasn't even born then."

"I know. If I could, I wouldn't let something like that happen. But I can't."

"I don't know if I will ever be able to forget her face."

Castle put his arm around her. "Me either."

The destruction of the slavers' convoy and the assault on Demming's plantation brough another surge of volunteers for Castle's forces. Even with the arrival of the _Pink Zephyr_ with more troops and weapons, plus everything that had been salvaged from the convoy still left Castle with more troops than he could arm and equip.

While re-organizing and training his troops, Castle continued to send out platoon sized raids to keep the slavers on edge. Then things changed.

Rick, Kate and all of the officers and many of the tribal chiefs sat in the longhouse, listening to the recording that had been being broadcast continuously.

"This is a message for Richard Castle who calls himself Richard Rodgers and to the members of the so-called Tarkai Anti-Slavery Alliance. I am Roger de Lauria, executive vice president of the Geiser Corporation for Administrative Affairs."

"That means he's their enforcer." Someone muttered.

The recording went on. "The Geiser Corporation does not intend to allow anyone to interfere with their legal operations on Tark. Accordingly, we have hired Davidson's Legion to take over security for our Tark operation. Should that not be enough, we can and will hire more mercenaries. In addition, we have asked our government to deploy a warship to Tark to prevent the smuggling of illegal weapons onto the planet or illegal immigration of people. If you have any sense, those of you who can, should leave this planet and those who cannot should retreat as far as you can to avoid our vengeance. I assure you that our vengeance will be swift and merciless."

The recording began to repeat and someone shut it off.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I don't have any sense." Castle said.

There was a roar of agreement from those around him.

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

Kate took his hand. "What is this Legion they've hired like?"

Castle thought for a moment. "Three good infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, some light armor, nothing armed with anything larger than a 50mm cannon, plus the usual support troops. A good unit altogether."

"What about New Hanover's space navy?"

"A pair of destroyers and about a half a dozen frigates. Even the frigates would be enough to blow the _Pink Zephyr_ to bits."

"So what do we do?"

"Go back to our original plan, guerilla warfare. We'll avoid the soldiers and keep attacking the plantations. We've already heard that some of them are unhappy and want to sell out. I doubt that Geiser can afford enough troops to be able to fight off a company sized raid on all four hundred plantations. If enough planters leave, they won't make any money and will have to leave. So, we need to get ready people. Staff meeting in half an hour."

Everyone worked hard to prepare for the upcoming war. Then Castle was called to his headquarters.

"Sir, we received a message addressed to you. There's no indication of the sender, but it appears to have been sent from space. From some ship out there, I guess."

"What's the message?"

"Just one word, sir. Cheerio. What does that even mean?"

Castle smiled. "It means were taking a little trip. Have someone get all of the vehicles out of hiding and get them ready for a trip. Get all of the chiefs ready, too. I'm going to go see Kate."

"What do you mean we're going fifty miles south of here with all of the village chiefs? We have a war to get ready for." Kate said.

Castle smiled. "This is part of the preparations."

"Just what is it, then?"

"It's a surprise."

"Rick, I hate surprises."

"You'll love this surprise. Really."

"I'll love it more if you tell me what it is right now."

"Sorry. You'll find out more the day after tomorrow."

They left early the next morning in the two trucks that had tracks rather than wheels and several four-wheel drive vehicles. It was quite crowded because Kate, all of Rick's officers and all of the village chiefs insisted on bringing along a platoon of soldiers. Castle just smiled.

The arrived at a small, open prairie late in the afternoon and no one, not even Kate at her seductive best could get Castle to explain. That night when they went to bed, Kate rolled over facing away from Rick and told him she had a killer headache.

At about noon the next day, they heard the rumbling of a ship coming in to land. Looking up they saw not one, but three large ships coming in.

"You're not handing us over to that Davidson's Legion, are you?" Asked Chief Mugwump.

"Of course not."

"Are they surrendering to us?" Kate asked.

"Them? Of course not."

The first ship landed and the forward cargo ramp opened and tanks began rumbling onto the prairie, followed by other vehicles. One tank headed straight for them.

"I thought you said Esposito's Legion only had light tanks. Those don't look very light." Kate said.

"They aren't. They're not a bit light." Castle was still smiling.

The tank stopped, the commander's hatch opened and a man got out and jumped to the ground. He was tall and slender, with eyes as blue as Castle's and with a Brigade of Guards mustache adorning his upper lip. He was dressed in camouflaged fatigues over which he had a battered black leather coat with silver epaulettes on the shoulders. On his head was a black beret with a sliver death's head on the side. Over his shoulder was a shortened assault rifle. He smiled as he walked towards them. "Ricky, old boy! So good to see you again."

Kate was surprised that he spoke in a cut-glass English accent.

Rick saluted. "Good to see you again, sir,"

The man returned Rick's salute with a negligent wave. "Oh, good heavens, Ricky. Given the size of your command here, I hardly outrank you, old boy." He looked past Rick. "I see you brought everyone."

Rick put his arm around Kate. "May I introduce my fiancé, Kate Beckett? Kate, this is _Oberst_ Hans von Tarlenheim, commander of _Kampfgruppe_ von Tarlenheim."

"_Oberst?_" Kate said, frowning.

"A Colonel, Captain Beckett."

"And what's a _kampfgruppe_?"

"Literally, it's a battle group or a fighting group in English. In my case, it's a brigade. I have a battalion of tanks, some eighty five strong…"He stopped and looked back at Rick. "Oh, Ricky, I must tell you, I bought a small company of the Chieftain heavy tanks. Just eleven of them, and they are rather slower than I might want, but they're just lovely for leading an assault." He turned back to Kate. "I also have two battalions of _panzergrenadiers_, infantry in armored vehicles, two battalions of artillery…"He stopped again. "You must see my new guns, Ricky. A battery of Royal Ordnance Factory self-propelled 180mm guns. Why, I could hit any part of Golden Life Valley with them from here." He turned back to Kate. "I have battalions of engineers, armored cavalry, aviation, aerospace defense artillery, and all the usual support troops."

"That's very impressive." Kate said, still not sure what was going on and unsure as to why Castle wasn't talking.

"Oh, other news, Ricky. The Earl of Orkney is bringing his regiment here. He'd just entered the system as I was landing. He finally has his regiment more or less complete: A _complete_ tank battalion, an armored infantry battalion, an artillery battalion and everything else is company sized. Of course, old Freddy will keep adding on. He'll have a division before he's done."

"I should introduce you to the village chiefs, sir." Castle said.

"Oh, by all means, but please do call me Hans."

Introductions were made, but before anyone could ask any questions, von Tarlenheim spoke again. "Ah, they've set up my tactical headquarters. We should sit down and have some refreshments. A grande skim latte with two pumps of sugar free vanilla for you, Captain Beckett?"

"Yes, but how did you…?" She looked over at Rick and glared at him.

"Lemonades for the Tarkai?"

They agreed at once.

Four boxy armored vehicles had backed up to each other and tarps had been spread between them. Under the tarps, in addition to people working on computer terminals and comm systems, was a table set with a snowy white tablecloth, with three waiters dressed in white ready to attend to the guests. Drinks were served and several plates of fresh donuts were put out.

Since Castle didn't seem inclined to say anything, Kate asked a question. "May I ask why you've come here, Colonel?"

"Oh, please call me Hans. May I call you Kate? And to answer your question, I'm here because I sense a business opportunity."

Kate frowned. "We can hardly afford to hire you, or this Earl of Orkney."

"I'm not here as a seller, but as a buyer."

"A buyer of what?" Kate was starting to get angry that Castle was saying nothing.

"I looked over Ricky's claim to the Geiser Corporation that he's legally the heir to Jackson and Martha Rodgers and therefore the sole legal contractor for the Tark project. By the by, the security at Geiser Corporation is dreadful. So, they don't have a legal led to stand on, which is why they've resorted to force. As I know Ricky has no desire to be some sort of farmer on this planet, I thought I'd buy him out."

"Buy him out?" Kate echoed.

"I was thinking for fifty million UK pounds and 2 ½ percent of the new corporation. I think that's fair."

Castle nodded. "It sounds fair, but I have an agreement with the Tarkai to consider."

Von Tarlenheim smiled. "Of course. I'll need to make a deal with them. First, I had in mind upgrading their military. For starters, a light infantry division. Say nine infantry battalions, perhaps, and a single artillery battalion and the usual support units. They'll need help with maintenance, repair and logistics at first, and in handling the more complex weaponry. But before you know it, they'll have a force too powerful permit anyone to enslave them ever again."

"What about the plantations?" Castle asked.

"As I, and the law, see it, every sale or lease of a plantation by that Demming fellow is illegal and without force. I shall simply tell the slavers they've been illegally squatting on my land and that I want a reasonable back rent from them for however long they've been there. I can't imagine any one of them coming up with that kind of cash, so they'll have to move, or I'll move them."

"What about the plantations themselves?" Castle asked.

"Oh, I'll just sell them for a nominal sum to the various villages. I'll make my money by providing various services to the new owners. They'll need engineers to maintain their fusion plants for refining the product. I don't imagine the Geiser stores, bars and whatnot in town will be very popular, especially when I end their monopoly. I should be able to make a tidy sum out of this with little effort on my part."

Kate wasn't too sure about that, but it seemed like a good deal for the Tarkai.

Von Tarlenheim, Castle and the chiefs discussed the contracts that the mercenary was offering. Castle pretty much accepted his, once Kate had nodded her agreement. The negotiations with the chiefs took a bit longer, and in the end they insisted that Castle stay on for a year as their chief military advisor and commander of their forces.

"Isn't there one thing you're forgetting?" Kate asked.

"What's that, Kate?" Von Tarlenheim asked.

"New Hanover is sending a warship here. Your transport doesn't have the firepower, I'm sure, to fight off even a frigate. And once they've established space superiority around Tark, they can shoot you to bits from orbit."

"There is that." Von Tarlenheim agreed. Then he called out to someone in one of his command vehicles. "Sir Kevin, can you come out here?"

Sir Kevin was a slender, compact man with blond hair and a blond Imperial beard, dressed very conservatively and very expensively.

"May I introduce Sir Kevin Ryan, of His Majesty's diplomatic service? Sir Kevin, I have successfully concluded my business with both parties. Are you prepared to make your offer?"

"That I am. The government of the United Kingdoms would like to offer a treaty of alliance to the government of the Golden Life Valley. If you agree, His Majesty's Navy already has a task force in this system. It consists of two armored cruisers and six destroyers. Should any foreign power threaten you, we would defend you. In addition, we would like to buy the largest of your three moons. As you have no means of reaching any of the moons, I'm afraid we'll be offering just a nominal sum, one hundred thousand pounds."

The village chiefs had to have explained to them what the vessels were and how they compared to the ships of New Hanover, but eventually agreed.

TBC


	18. Chapter 18

Vengeance

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: For the last time! I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future.

As von Tarlenheim ordered more lemonades and donuts to celebrate, Kate dragged Rick away. "This was all a set up! You knew von Tarlenheim was coming from the beginning. You knew about the Royal Navy ships! You knew about everything! And you let me worry myself sick this whole time!"

"No, I didn't!" Rick said. "I swear."

"You're a liar and you know how I hate lies." Kate had fixed him with a first class glare.

"I'm not lying." He took her hand and drew her towards a machine. He pressed some keys and a holographic presentation of the Europa Cluster appeared. "Let me explain. To begin with, what you and everyone believes is true: Units like _Kampfgruppe_ von Tarlenheim, the Earl of Orkney's Regiment, Black Jacques Schram's Brigade and all of the rest aren't really independent mercenary units. They work solely for the United Kingdoms."

"Including your company." Kate sniffed.

"No, not at all. I really was entirely on my own. Black Jacques Schram likes me and thought he'd score some points with the Tarkai, so he provided me with some funds, encouraged others to enlist with me and told me where I could get more weapons. I was on my own, but it got Schram thinking. Look here." He pointed to the holographic map. "This is the United Kingdoms, the wealthiest, most industrialized, most technologically advanced and most militarily powerful star nation in the whole Europa Cluster. There are one hundred and two human inhabited planets in the Cluster. Oh, there are nineteen planets inhabited by non-humans, but let's leave those out for now. The one hundred and two planets have something like seven hundred and twenty separate human colonies on them."

"Why is that?" Kate asked.

"It's very difficult and very expensive to establish a new colony. Most are founded with only a couple of hundred thousand people. More may come later, of course, if the colony's successful."

"Now let's assume someone found an uninhabited planet exactly like Earth. Someone starts a colony in say, Virginia. Someone else comes along and founds a colony in Southern Africa. The first colony is struggling to establish itself, so they can hardly start a war against a colony so far away. They just have to live with it. And if someone starts a colony on the Black Sea coast, and one in Eastern China, same thing. Plus having neighbors can be a good thing. You can trade with your neighbors for things that you don't have. Now if someone comes along and plants a colony in North Carolina, that could lead to problems. The kind of problems mercenaries solve. Many colonies are too poor to have anything but a small cadre of professional troops and a lot of poorly armed militia."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with Tark?" Kate asked.

"I'm getting to that. The fifteen million people who went to the United Kingdom was unprecedented in terms of population, wealth, and military power. Most of the colonies in the Cluster are allied with, or at least friendly to, the UK. But then the Chinese came along and colonized the Han Worlds, over here." Castle pointed to three stars just on the edge of the Europa Cluster. "They claim to be independent colonies not at all connected with China back on Earth, but they're really run by some very nationalist Chinese government officials who want China to run all of human space. There are always colonies that are unhappy with the status quo on their planet, or factions in one colony who are unhappy. The Han Worlds will make friends with them by giving them money, advice, equipment, whatever they need or want. If things get serious, they'll provide their allies with weapons, advisors and even "volunteer" troops. And so we have the so-called Shadow War between the Han Worlds and the United Kingdoms. The UK can provide money, advice, weapons, advisors, mercenary troops and even regular UK troops to friendly governments."

"Castle, I know all of this. What does all this have to do with Tark?" Somehow Kate had managed to intensify her glare.

"The Han Worlds have found a new way to attack the UK and its allies. Piracy. They will provide a fast, armed ship to any group of miscreants who want to become pirates and attack anyone the Han don't like. Any paper trail will lead back to Earth and their ferocious banking secrecy laws and stops there. No way to prove Han involvement."

"I hadn't heard of any piracy." Kate said.

"Oh, it's all very business-like and low key. All you need is a fast ship with enough weaponry to take an unarmed merchant ship. You take the ship and put a prize crew aboard, then rendezvous with a merchant ship that's in on the deal. You transfer the ship's passengers and crew to the pirate's merchant ship and the cargo as well. The cargo can be sold legitimately with a few creative forgeries. There are plenty of places within or out of the Europa Cluster where you can sell the pirated merchant ship, no questions asked. The crew and any passengers are ransomed through a series of dummy corporations and legitimate law firms."

"Why would any legitimate law firm get involved?" Kate asked. Her parents were lawyers after all, and she knew about good law firms.

Castle shrugged. "Suppose you're a law firm partner and someone tells you they know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who has taken some hostages and wants to trade them for a ransom. You're a good person and you want to help. Most of the firms do the work pro bono and those that do charge don't ask for more than their expenses. Money gets transferred, people get released and everyone is happy. At least so far."

"This is eventually going to explain what's going on now?" Kate asked.

He nodded. "Here it comes. There are more and more pirate attacks. The solution is for merchant ships to travel together in convoys, escorted by a few warships. So, the UK has been setting up naval bases along its most important trade route. That's the one that leads from the Earth and the Core Worlds. Those are still the wealthiest and most technologically advanced worlds. Each base will have some kind of defense capability, an escort group for the convoys, and a group to go out and try to hunt down pirates. They started at Padua, then Karelia, then the Banat, Swabia, Pecs, Helvetia, Moravia, and so on. Eventually you get to Tark and move on until you get to the Republic of Prussia which is not only the UK's most powerful ally, but is the closest Europa Cluster world to the Core."

"Now Tark, and a few other planets, don't have anything even close to a space navy, but they do have location. Most colonies can at least provide a handful of frigates and some can provide fairly strong space navies. Until the UK and its allies can think of some way to stop piracy, they'll have to expand the convoy system to cover all of the Cluster."

"Couldn't they just send their own pirates after the Han Worlds?" Kate asked.

Rick smiled. "Maybe, but they sure won't tell anyone about it if they did. Anyway, after I left, Black Jacques Schram started to think about what a great location Tark would make for a convoy base. And it would put the Golden Life production in the hands of a friendly government. New Hanover is one of those colonies that are friendly to the Han. He suggested it to some people in the UK government and they thought about it. I didn't know they had something planned until the last time the _Pink Zephyr_ came here. But just because something is planned doesn't mean it's going to happen. Any kind of sudden crisis and von Tarlenheim and Orkney's units and the UK task force are badly needed elsewhere and we're on our own. I didn't say anything to anyone because I didn't know until Hans sent me the one-word code, "Cheerio", that everything was in place."

"So, you didn't _know _but you _knew_! You could have told me."

Rick sighed. "How can I make it up to you?"

Kate just smiled.

Two weeks later, von Tarlenheim and Sir Kevin called Rick and Kate over to von Tarlenheim's headquarters. The two had been visiting the plantation owned by the Badens that O'Hara had found.

"We have news." Sir Kevin said. "A New Hanover frigate escorting a troop transport entered the system five days ago and was challenged by our task force. There was a polite conversation and they decided to go elsewhere. Yesterday, a fast civilian ship came in carrying some lawyers from the government of New Hanover and Geiser. They want to make a deal."

"You told them no, of course" Kate said at once.

"No, there will be a deal."

"That's awful. They're slavers, murderers, sadistic monsters who deserve…."

"Please, Captain Beckett." Sir Kevin said, holding up his hands. "This is one of over a hundred planets that the United Kingdoms has interests on. We can't keep two excellent armored units here indefinitely, There are already people wanting their services. The same with our task force."

"That's disgusting." Kate spat.

"That's reality. The deal won't be very favorable to them. We'll pay them a little for the spaceport they built and some other infrastructure, but that's it. And we have an opportunity to make the government of New Hanover more friendly to us and less friendly to the Han Worlds. The planters will be allowed to leave peacefully."

Kate was so angry she just glared and stomped off.

"That's the deal?" Castle asked.

"I'm afraid, Colonel Castle that my job is to do the best for His Majesty's Government. This is the best for us."

Castle nodded. "I guess I'm glad I'm just a soldier." He walked off after Kate. He found her sitting on a tree stump.

"We're still going to stay here for a year?"

Rick nodded. "I think it would be a nice place for a honeymoon."

"You do, Colonel Castle? Don't you think you're leaving something out?"

Castle feigned confusion. "What would that be?"

"Think about it for a while, Soldier Boy."

Castle dropped to one knee and held out a ring. "Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you marry me?"

"Yes."

The End

**Author's note: I have ideas for three sequels to this story. I'm also still working on the sequel to Deadly Planet and the next story of Renaissance Italy's Lord and Lady Castle. I have a kind of an idea for a story about Special Force Major Rick Rodgers and his archeologist wife, Kate. Plus, I have been thinking about finishing off the story of Captain Kate Beckett, the 18****th**** Century pirate queen. Oh, I also have an idea for To Love and Die in Manhattan, an AU take on To Love and Die in LA. I also have an idea for Kate Beckett to meet our favorite vampire, Simone Renoir. So, there's only one thing for it. I'm just going to have to live to be 130 years old to get all of this done. **


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